Highschool DxD: Road of the Dragon King
by Ren536
Summary: AU. Issei's dream is to become the Harem King. And with the early awakening of the Boosted Gear, he is willing to do whatever it takes to realize his dream, even at the cost of his own life. Perverted Issei, Initially Human-Issei, Issei x Harem. M due to language, violence, and adult themes later on. (Abandoned, Rewrite is up)
1. Ch 1: Enter the Perverted Beast

**Author's Note**

 **Hello, everyone! This will be my first fanfic, so I know this won't be any good. I'm just trying to have fun with this. If you enjoy it, great! If not, well then you have a nice day, and sorry that I've wasted your time with a below-average story. Fair warning, though, this is gonna be pretty slow in a lot of places.**

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

 **["Ddraig's speech"]**

 **['Ddraig's thoughts']**

 **...**

 **Highschool DxD: Road of the Dragon King'**

Ch 1: Enter the Perverted Beast

Kuoh Academy, a prestigious school that was formerly a private school for girls only. However, it recently became a school for both boys and girls, much to the delight of the male students. Especially for three particular students.

These three boys are currently running like mad from a crowd. A crowd full of angry, shinai-wielding girls.

"Damn it all!" The boy in the center shouts with a panicked look on his face. He was wearing the designated uniform for his school. Although, he took some liberty with his outfit by wearing no bow-tie and has a red t-shirt underneath his jacket. He had brown eyes and brown hair, which is in a spiky mess. "Why the hell couldn't keep your damn mouth shut!?"

He was yelling at his two friends on his left and right, also running like hell. On his right was a tall, bald-headed guy with a face resembling a monkey's. On the brunette's left was another black-haired boy with glasses. "Aw come on, man! Can you really blame us!?" The monkey-faced kid, known as Matsuda, asked the brunette in the middle.

"Yeah! Come on, Issei! Some things can't be helped!" The bespectacled boy, named Motohama, interjected with his own opinion.

"No! Some things can be helped, actually! Like closing your goddamn li-" the boy named Issei looks behind him to see the girls from the Kendo club closing in on them. All of them shouting various curses and threats at them.

"Damn perverts!"

"Get them!"

"You're so dead when we get you!"

"Beat them senseless!"

"Crush their bones!"

"Gouge out their eyes so they never peep on us again!"

"Eeep!" Issei let out a shriek as the girls' threats became more brutal. "Shit shit shit! Less talking! More running!"

The three increased their pace. However, inevitability dawned on them as the girls finally caught up to them. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The pained shouts of the three boys echoed throughout the academy as they get mercilessly beaten by the Kendo girls.

 **...**

The three teenagers are resting up against a tree by the old school building, all of them covered in bruises.

"This sucks," Issei grumbles. He looks over to his two friends. Together, they're known as "The Perverted Trio," three students well-known throughout the school for their perverted tendencies.

"Come on, dude. It's not that bad." Matsuda said while trying to sit comfortably on the grass.

Issei rolls his eyes while leaning against the tree. "No, you're right, Matsuda. I absolutely love the feeling of not being able to sit comfortably on my ass for three days!"

"Relax, Issei. Look on the bright side." Motohama's glasses started to suddenly let out a gleam as his nose began to leak with blood. "Those girls are so fucking hot!"

Matsuda's nose also began to drip blood, "Yeah. Katase is so sexy!"

However, their statements only made Issei angrier. "Yeah yeah. That's great and all, but how about you maybe oh I don't know..." Issei suddenly slams his fist down on top of Matsuda's head, "Let me have a look once in awhile!?"

Matsuda grunts in pain while glaring daggers at Issei. "What the fuck man!? It's not my fault you're too slow!" The boy reels his fist back, ready to hit Issei as he suddenly swings as hard as he could.

However, Issei quickly dodged the fist, causing Matsuda to hit Motohama. "Ow! What the hell, Matsuda!?" The boy shouts in pain as he throws a punch at Matsuda, striking him in the face. Matsuda, however, decides to hit Issei instead. "Ow! Fucking hell! I didn't even hit you that time!"

"Consider that payback." Matsuda grins arrogantly, only to be struck in the face again by Issei. Soon, Matsuda put the brunette in a headlock.

Motohama quickly joins the fray and tackles the two of them. The small scuffle quickly comes to an end as Issei stands on top of both of them. "Hah! You jackasses could never defeat me!" He says with a face that borders between goofy and maniacal. The only thing the other two could do under Issei's heel was to groan in defeat.

Issei then looks up to see a figure through one of the windows of the old school building. He stares for a brief moment before stepping off of his friends and walking away.

 **...**

In the building, a well-endowed, crimson haired girl observed the three through the window. Though her eye was on one specific person.

"Akeno, do you know who that boy is?" The girl asks the other person next to her, a girl who is just as well-endowed.

"Yes. His name is Issei Hyoudou. He's known as 'The Perverted Beast,' known for peeking with his two friends and has openly admitted to wanting to be a harem king." Akeno couldn't help but giggle after finishing her statement. In all honestly, she found his goofy antics heard around the school to be somewhat amusing. Rias felt the same way, but she kept quiet.

"However," Akeno continued, "an interesting rumor coming from the boys around is that Issei frequently takes part in street brawls. Some say he's a decent fighter, too." The pony-tailed beauty poured a cup of tea for the redhead. "I see." The crimson-haired girl responds. She then looks over to another figure in the room. "Koneko, do you think you can keep an eye on this boy?" She asks the small petite girl with white hair.

"Yes, President." The girl named Koneko quickly responds before leaving. After she left, Akeno looks over to the other girl. "Why the sudden interest in the boy? Could it be that you've taken a liking to him, Rias?"

Rias puts down the tea cup that she was sipping from. "The boy is quite interesting if I'm being honest here. But more than that," she looks back out the window where Issei was a moment ago, "I can't help but feel like there's something dormant inside him."

 **...**

Issei is walking home from school along with Matsuda and Motohama. He takes a right around the corner of a building, only to be met with a sudden punch to the face.

"Gah!" Issei stumbles backward as he suddenly falls over. He looks up to see Matsuda and Motohama shaking in fear. He also sees a very pissed off looking biker dude with short blonde hair and donned a leather jacket. "Alright. What the hell is your problem?" Issei asks, trying to be diplomatic despite taking a punch to the face by this guy.

The guy cracks his knuckles as he prepares to beat the crap out of the three of them. "You know damn well what my problem is, Hyoudou!" He says angrily.

'Great. He knows my name,' Issei thinks to himself sarcastically. "Look, I don't know who you are, but whatever I did to piss you off, I'm sorry that it-" "Shut it, Hyoudou! I'm here for this asshole!" He points to Matsuda. "Huh? Me!?"

"Yeah, that's right, dickhead! You've been messing with my girl again."

"Explain, Matsuda." Issei suddenly glares at Matsuda. Matsuda suddenly shakes before raising his hands up in the air. "Alright alright! I saw this cute chick who looked hot in a leather jacket. I started talking to her while maybe ogling her sweet chest. I mean seriously, her tits were amazing Issei. You should have seen-" Issei pops Matsuda over the head. "Dumbass!" He shouts. "Yeah!" Motohama jumped in the conversation. "You broke our pact, man! We all made a promise to never hit on the biker chicks again! I mean, those girls are sexy and all, but it's not worth it when we have to deal with these douchebags!"

"Oh. So we're douchebags, now?" A voice says from behind the Perverted Trio. Said voice belonged to another biker and behind him were three other guys. "Goddammit, Motohama," Issei mutters.

The blonde biker, assumed to be the leader, starts speaking again. "Can't run from us now, can you, Hyoudou?" He asks with an arrogant grin.

Issei sighs heavily while looking at the guys surrounding him and his friends, who are clinging to him desperately. "No. I guess I can't." The brunette says while pointing to a nearby alleyway. "But if you don't wanna look any worse than you already do, then I suggest we take this little...confrontation over there. That way, neither of us have to worry about cops."

The leader smiles at Issei. "I like the way you think, let's go then."

 **...**

They all head into the alley, making sure no one's watching them. After they go in deep enough, the biker gang surrounds the three perverts. Matsuda begins to laugh suddenly. "Fuahahahaha! You dickheads don't stand a chance against us now!" He says while pointing at them.

Motohama smiles gleefully while striking a pose. "That's right! We may be known for peeking in the girl's locker room, but we are terrifying fighters as well! No one has survived the might of-"

"The Perverted Trio!" Matsuda and Motohama shouted while pumping their fists up in the air. Matsuda began to make a hissing noise while getting into a snake-style Kung-fu stance. Motohama decides to prepare a crane kick while letting out a quiet "Huaaa."

This odd display only confused the bikers while Issei simply takes off his school jacket and tosses it on top of the dumpster nearby. He bends his right knee forward while keeping his fists slightly above his waist. 'Tch. First I don't get to see Murayama's tits and now I have to deal with these Shonen manga rejects? I'm in a bad mood,' Issei thought.

"Che. Look at these clowns!" One of the bikers shouts, "Come on guys. Let's beat their ass!" The guy charges forward, only to be halted by a left hook from Issei.

The biker staggers back as the other look shocked by Issei's sudden attack. However, the leader soon breaks this spell. "Come on! That was just a lucky punch! Get them!" The blonde leader says while the others suddenly charge at the trio.

"Hah! Give it your best-mbff!" Matsuda takes a right cross to the nose.

"Matsu-gah!" Motohama takes a hard kick to the stomach.

"Goddammit!" Issei shouts while punching one of the bikers in the face. However, he ends taking two punches to his own face while blocking a kick to the stomach. The brunette quickly retaliates with a kick of his own while taking another punch.

Issei grabs a biker by the jacket and headbutts him square in the nose. 'Two down,' Issei thought before taking a punch from his right, causing him to stagger and hit the wall. "Gah! Shit!"

The remaining three corner Issei against the wall. Issei stretched his arms out, his right touching the dumpster that he threw his jacket on. 'Wait a minute...' Issei begins to smile to himself.

"Any last words, prick?" The leader smiles arrogantly at Issei. However, Issei only returns a smug grin of his own.

"Yeah. Catch!" Issei suddenly says while throwing his jacket at the bikers. He takes advantage of their shock and rams his shoulder into the leader's stomach, tackling him against the other wall. Issei gives a quick one-two punch to the blonde biker's face, knocking him out.

Issei glares at the remaining two, who look scared now. "Fuck this man! Let's get outta here!" The two run off.

Issei leans against the wall, breathing heavily. He looks over to his two friends who just got up. "You guys ok?" He asks them.

The two put their thumbs up and grin. "No problems here!" Matsuda says despite having blood drip down his face. "Yeah. We're good." Motohama adjusts his cracked glasses.

Issei smiles at them while wiping off his own blood. Despite the fact that they were a huge pain in the ass to him, he still considered the two friends. "Alright guys, I'll see you tomorrow." He says before walking away, carrying his jacket on his right shoulder.

"W-wait man. I thought we were gonna hang out today. I even got a new DVD and everything." Matsuda says while pulling a porno movie out of his bag.

Issei sighs and keeps walking ahead. "Look, I'm tired today. And after taking two beatings on the same day, I'll think I'll just head home." He says, leaving his two friends behind.

Motohama gives a wave to his buddy. "Alright man! We'll see you tomorrow!" Issei gives a quick wave to them without looking back.

 **...**

Issei continues his path home until a girl wearing a school uniform steps in front of him. However, it was different from his school. Her uniform consisted of a black jacket with a gold emblem on her chest and a red skirt. Speaking of her chest, Issei stared at it for a quick moment. 'Niiice.' Issei smiles almost lecherously. However, he stops himself as she began speaking. "U-umm..."

'She seems nervous. I wonder what she wants with me.' Issei wonders before she speaks again.

"Are you Issei Hyoudou?" She asks him. Issei looks confused for a moment before answering, "Oh. Uhh...yeah!" He smiles at her.

'How does this girl know my name? And if she knows my name, why isn't she running away from me? Then again, she probably goes to another school where they don't know about the crap involving the "Perverted Trio." Wait a minute, why should I be questioning this? A smoking hot chick is talking to me!' He smiles excitedly, bordering on goofy.

While Issei was internally rambling, the girl suddenly looked up at him with reddened cheeks. "W-will you be my boyfriend?"

 **End**


	2. Ch 2: Not According to Plan

**Highschool DxD: Road of the Dragon King**

Ch 2: Not According to Plan

 **...**

"W-will you be my boyfriend?" The girl asks Issei. Issei couldn't believe what he was hearing. 'M-me? Be her boyfriend?' He takes a look at the girl once more. 'She's easily one of the most beautiful girls that I've ever seen. And that's saying a lot considering all the hot girls at my school!'

Issei gulped before answering her, trying to contain his excitement, "Of course! I'd love to be your boyfriend!" He tried to contain his excitement, but he failed miserably.

The girl looked surprised at Issei's outburst, but she giggled about a minute after, "Great. How about we go out together this Sunday?" She suggests while she's still blushing.

Issei nods eagerly, "That sounds great! But uhh...what's your name?" He asks. It was weird that she somehow knew his name but not the other way around.

The girl looked confused for a moment, "Eh? Ah. Oh! Oh gosh! I'm sorry!" She takes a minute to compose herself, "My name is Yuuma. Yuuma Amano."

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Yuuma," Issei says with flushed cheeks. "S-so uhh...see you on Sunday?" He asks awkwardly.

"Of course." Yuuma nods, "But wait," she walks up to Issei, "before you go, could you hand me your phone?"

"Huh? Oh uhh...sure," Issei pulls out his phone to hand over to Yuuma. Yuuma starts pushing buttons on his phone. After about half a minute, Yuuma hands the phone back to Issei. He looks at it to see that he's got a new number under his contacts. 'Holy shit. I got a girl's phone number!' He thinks with joy.

Yuuma gives a quick bow. "Bye Issei," she says before running off. "See you on Sunday!" She waves at Issei as she leaves.

Issei waves back at her before looking down at his phone. "Yahoo! I did it! I got a girl's number!" Issei jumps up while pumping his fist up in the air. He eagerly runs home, 'This is it! The first step!'

"Look out, world! You're looking at the birth of a brand new harem king!"

 **...**

Issei comes home with a smile on his face. He sees his parents in the kitchen, his mother cooking up dinner and his father reading the paper at the dining table. "Mom! Dad! I'm home!" He greets them cheerfully.

Mr. Hyoudou looks away from his paper to see Issei. "Hey son," he greets his son happily, before frowning. "Did you get into another fight?" Mr. Hyoudou asks Issei seriously.

"He probably got beaten up by the girls in his school again." Mrs. Hyoudou says with a sigh.

'Actually, it was both. And I technically never peeked. Even though I wanted to,' Issei thought to himself, it wouldn't be a smart idea to let those thoughts out of his mouth. He quickly shakes his head while still keeping a cheerful smile.

"That doesn't matter. Look," He says to them happily while pulling out his phone, showing Yuuma's name under his contacts. "I got a girl's phone number!"

Issei's parents suddenly stopped dead. "D-did I hear that, right?" Mrs. Hyoudou asked her husband. "I think...our son...just walked in...and told us that he got a girl's number," Mr. Hyoudou responded. "Mm-hmm," Issei nods, "and I got a date with her on Sunday too."

This shocked the parents even more. They look at each other than back to their son.

"A..." Mr. Hyoudou starts.

"Date?" Mrs. Hyoudou finishes.

They look at each other before smiling happily. They then embrace each other. "I can't believe it! Our son got a date! Our perverted, pathetic son got himself an actual date!" Mrs. Hyoudou says happily.

"I know! I can't believe it! This could lead to grandchildren! Now the Hyoudou bloodline doesn't have to die with us!" Mr. Hyoudou shouts with joy, causing Issei to sigh heavily.

'I know they mean well, but come on.' He thinks to himself. Although, he couldn't help but smile at his parents. They at least seemed happy for him, even if they were weird about it.

Soon, the family of three began to eat their dinner. The parents mostly talked about Issei's date and how they want lots and lots of grandchildren. Issei spent the majority of dinner time being flustered by Mr. and Mrs. Hyoudou's absurd statements and reactions.

 **...**

After dinner, Issei went up to his room and locked the door behind him. He sighs heavily as he lays down on his bed, a single question plaguing his thoughts. 'What do I do on a date?'

Issei sits up from his bed while rubbing his head in frustration. He stands up looks over to his shelf filled with various ecchi and hentai manga, visual novels, and anime. 'Maybe one of these could give me some ideas.'

He begins with the various hentai DVDs, only to quickly disregard them. 'All that's giving me is very weird blackmail ideas. Or showing that the girl is a slut. Maybe Yuuma is actually-no no no,' Issei shakes his head. 'No. I can't think like that. This is my first real date. I can't screw this up. After all,' he lays back down on his bed with a goofy grin on his face, 'This is the first step to becoming a harem king!'

 **...**

Issei was in class the next morning, reading an ecchi manga before the bell rang. This caused a few whispers to occur among the girls in the class.

"Seriously? He has to read that here?"

"God, he's such a pervert."

"Why doesn't he just go away?"

"Disgusting freak."

Issei ignored them and continued reading. Matsuda and Motohama came up to the brunette and greeted him.

"What's up, my man?" Matsuda pats Issei's back. "You reading some good old fashion literature? Nice! But didn't you read this one already?" He says while taking a peek over Issei's shoulder.

"I have," Issei responds, not looking away from the book, "I'm just trying to see if I can get any ideas on what to do for my date on Sunday," he says casually while flipping a page.

"Oh. I see," Matsuda says as he sits at the desk behind Issei. However, the rest of the class were shocked at what Issei just said.

Matsuda didn't immediately register what Issei said until he sat down. His response was to grab Issei by the collar and suddenly slam the back of his head into the desk, "Fucking WHAT!?" Matsuda shouts.

"OWWW! What the hell, jackass!?" Issei shouts in pain as he looks over to Matsuda.

"You have a freaking date!?" Motohama yells, trying to put Issei in a headlock. People started whispering to each other again.

"He's got a date?"

"No way. Him?"

"I bet he forced her."

"Yeah. He probably threatened to beat her up or something."

"Yeah! I have a date this Sunday! What of it!?" Issei yells though it's towards the duo trying to kick his ass.

"I thought we were a team!" Motohama cries. "Why would you betray us!?"

"What the fu- I didn't betray you guys! I jus-" Issei tried to explain himself, but was cut off by Matsuda. "You abandoned your comrades. Getting ahead in the game is no different than stabbing us in the back!"

Issei slams his head into the perverted baldy's skull. "Do you realize the absurd bullshit that's spilling out of your mouth!? Are you saying that I should stay in the lower levels, not making any progress like you two!?"

"That's right! We're in this together, dammit!" Motohama tries to tighten his grip on Issei.

Thankfully, before the fight could escalate any further, the school began to ring. All the students went to their seats as the teacher walked in. The teacher began his lesson for the day while Issei took notes. Not on the lesson, but for his date.

He lets out a low, cheerful hum much to the dismay of his buddies. 'I can't wait.' Issei thinks happily to himself.

 **...**

Throughout the week, Issei called Yuuma on a couple of occasions. The two of them mostly talked about their day. Although, Issei kept quiet about girls chasing him because his two friends kept peeking on the Kendo girls.

Unbeknownst to him, however, Koneko kept an eye on him, making sure to keep a considerable distance away from him. Every night, she would see Rias and give her a report on Issei.

"I see. Thank you, Koneko. Continue to observe him for a little while longer," was always the response that Rias gave to Koneko.

If Koneko was being honest, she found Issei to be unimpressive. She never saw the potential that her president apparently saw in him. All Koneko saw was a pervert acting like an idiot. She didn't even find his fighting skills to be that promising. 'If he was any good, he wouldn't have a scratch on him.' Koneko thought while she continues to observe him.

 **...**

Issei suddenly awoke in a cold, black void. However, his vision was hazy. 'Where...where am I?'

He looks around to see a pool of blood around him. 'What the hell? Is this...is this my blood? I-I'm dying?'

Soon, he sees a large sea of flames quickly engulfing him. However, it doesn't burn him.

'It's not hot...It doesn't hurt...I guess it's a sign that I'm dying,' soon, Issei sees a giant, monstrous figure in the center of the flames. It let out a huge roar as it spreads its gargantuan wings.

 **...**

Issei suddenly jolted awake on his bed. 'What the hell...was that?' Issei thinks to himself. 'That was definitely one of the weirder dreams that I've ever had.'

Issei shakes his head, deciding to push the dream into the back of his thoughts while getting up.

'More importantly, today's the big day!' Issei thinks happily. He quickly hops into the shower. After washing up, Issei looks through the closet to find any good outfits to wear. "Shit. I probably should've bought some outfits for the date. Dammit, why didn't I put that down?" He mutters to himself while looking through his notes.

He sighs and decides to improvise. He ended up going with a black tank-top, a red hoodie, and a pair of blue jeans. 'This should do for now,' Issei thought. He studies his notes one more time and then pats his face with both of his hands. 'Ok. Let's do this,' Issei grins happily. He runs out the door in excitement. "Mom! Dad! I'm heading out now!" He says before closing the door behind him.

 **...**

Issei hung around the Shopping District, eagerly waiting for Yuuma to show up. At some point, a girl wearing a strange bat costume approached Issei. She gave him a flyer with a pentagram on it. On the top of the flyer, it read "May all your wishes come true!" The girl gave a quick wave to Issei before walking away.

Issei couldn't help but give a light chuckle. 'Not a bad way to advertise,' he thought before crumpling up the paper and putting it in his pocket.

A few minutes later, Yuuma shows up wearing a short black dress and pink shirt over it. The outfit showed a generous view of her cleavage, much to the glee of Issei.

'Ho-ly shit, she's beautiful!' He thought happily.

"H-hi Issei! Sorry, I'm late!" She says while approaching Issei.

The brunette simply shrugs, "It's alright. I just here got here, myself," he tells her. 'Yes! Always wanted to say that!'

"Shall we?" Issei asks while holding out his hand.

"Yes!" Yuuma said with a joyful smile on her face while clinging to Issei's arm. She made extra sure to press her breasts against his arm and rests her head on his shoulder.

'Eeeeee! This feels so wonderful!' Issei looks down at your chest and begins to think about grabbi- 'No! You gotta focus, man!' Issei quickly tries to get rid of those thoughts. 'You can't just start thinking about yourself. You gotta make sure she's having a good time,' Issei tells himself.

"Uhh...Hungry? I know a great place where we could grab a quick bite," Issei suggested, which he then started to berate himself for. 'Dammit, dude. She may not even be hungry! Shit, I knew I shouldn't have skipped breakfast. That's why I'm thinking about food all of a sudden.'

However, Yuuma smiled at him, "That sounds like a good idea. Truth be told, I kinda skipped breakfast because I was so eager to see you today. Sorry, I know that sounds kinda lame," She looks with flushed cheeks.

"O-oh no. I understand. I felt the same way," Issei tried to reassure her, 'That's it, buddy. Nice and smooth,' he thought.

Soon, the two enter a small family restaurant and ordered a chocolate parfait for each of them. Issei began to dig in but made sure to slow down. Part of it was because he wanted to savor this moment with Yuuma, but mostly it was to make sure he didn't look like a pig in front of her. 'Girls don't like slobs.'

He watched Yuuma eat the parfait. "Mmm! Delicious!" She says happily. 'Man, she looks so adorable when she eats. Plus,' Issei looks down slightly, staring at Yuuma's chest. 'So round. So jiggly! So-stop! Stop! Stop ogling that amazing chest!' Issei berates himself once more.

The two sat in silence, enjoying each other's company while they eat. Afterward, they went out to a clothing store, they didn't really buy anything, though. Issei just mostly showed some goofy outfits, joking about buying them, making Yuuma laugh. 'Yes! Girls love a sense of humor!' Issei praises himself. He did end up buying a purple scrunchie for her, actually surprising her.

"Oh wow! I love it!" She says while showing it off to Issei. He smiles warmly at her reaction. 'This is what it feels like, huh? To be a normal teenager who goes out on dates. I feel...alive,' he thought soberly.

However, an astute observer (In this case, Koneko) could see that something was off about this date. Sure, Issei seemed genuinely happy from the bottom of his heart, but Yuuma seemed...off. Most of her reactions were either reserved or forced to be happy. It was almost as if she just wanted to get this date over with.

The sun was beginning to set as Issei and Yuuma arrived at the park, their hands entangled in each other. 'This is it, right? This is where I get my first kiss!' Issei's thoughts were scrambled with excitement. 'Yes yes yes! This is it! The first step into manhood! Goodbye, super virgin! Hello, **man**!' He then took a deep breath. 'Alright alright alright. Play it cool. You can't screw this up. Not this late in the game.'

"I had really good time today," Yuuma says with her back turned to Issei.

"Yeah. Me too. Today was really great!" Issei says happily.

"Hey, Issei?" Yuuma turns around, her head hanging low so Issei couldn't see her eyes.

"Yeah?"

"Would you-" Yuuma never finished her sentence. As soon as she was about to speak, a huge ball of flames hit the ground between the two of them, causing the both of them to fly backward. "Yuuma" jumped up high in the air and sprouted huge black wings from her back. Naturally, she didn't expect a big ass fireball to fly out of nowhere. In the corner of her eye, she sees a grotesque creature popping out from the woods.

'Dammit! This wasn't according to plan!' "Yuuma" thought with her real voice.

 **End**

 **Author's note: I'm gonna be following the light novel for this story. In other words, no kinky leather straps for Raynare. To those who were looking forward to that, my apologies.**


	3. Ch 3: Awaken!

**Highschool DxD: Road of the Dragon King**

Ch 3: Awaken!

 **...**

Raynare couldn't believe it. Everything was perfectly planned out. Manipulate the dumb boy with a Sacred Gear, pull him into a false sense of security, then stab him in the heart. It was perfect!

Despite all that careful planning, however, a giant fireball had to come and ruin everything. The Fallen Angel looked over to the source of the fireball. She saw a large, disgusting creature. It had the appearance of a snail with the face of an elderly man on its shell. The snail itself was bright red.

Issei's head was in pain. 'What...happened?' He thought as he tried to get up, but couldn't even move. He turns his head to that monstrosity slowly moving toward the park.

'What the hell...is that?' Issei looked terrified at this point. He had never seen anything like that in his life. Well, outside of manga anyway.

'I need to get Yuuma...outta here. Where is she? Is she...ok?' Issei tried to get up to look for Yuuma, but it was nearly impossible to move. 'No! Come on, dammit! No matter what happens, a man stands up for his girl!' Issei then felt a burning sensation on his shoulder. He turned to see that his hoodie was on fire. 'Shit! It burns,' he thought while trying to take it off despite the pain.

Every bone in his body hurt like hell, but Issei still tried to push forward. 'Come on, Issei! Grit your teeth! And push forward!' He manages to slip off his hoodie, however, he stayed low on the ground due to the fact that the snail creature was looking around.

'Shit! This fucking thing isn't gonna make it easy for me, huh?' Issei tried to crawl away in the woods. 'Come on. Nice and easy. Just slip under the radar.'

Raynare looked down at the creature with anger. "Tch. Damn Stray," A fuschia colored light began to form in her right hand. The light gradually took shape into a spear. However, she quickly stopped herself when she saw a small, white-haired figure nearby. 'Damn. Another Devil?' Raynare thought while looking over to see Issei's hoodie on fire.

Presuming that he's dead, Raynare simply looked down at the charred piece of clothing. 'If you wanna blame anyone, blame God for passing down a Sacred Gear to the likes of you,' was Raynare's last thought before deciding to retreat.

Koneko looked surprised at the sudden appearance of a Stray Devil. She decided to consult her president about this. A red magic circle appeared in front of the white-haired girl. "President, we have a problem," Koneko talks into the circle. "What is it? What's wrong?" Rias's voice could be heard through the circle. "A Stray suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Shall I dispose of it?"

"Yes. Make sure it doesn't cause any damage than it already has," Rias ordered Koneko.

"Understood," Koneko responded and then immediately charged at the large snail while the communication circle disappeared

The snail looked at Koneko and the mouth of the old man on the shell began to spit fire. However, Koneko dodged by quickly dashing to the right. The face continued to spit fireballs at Koneko, each one she dodged.

Soon, she came up to the Devil's right side and struck the shell with a powerful uppercut, sending the snail flying with a cracked shell. The face screamed in pain while Koneko jumped up in the air.

"Fly," she said monotonously while doing a flying spin kick, striking the same spot where she first hit it. The snail was sent flying from the impact.

Koneko landed on her feet. She looked over to see Issei's charred hoodie. 'This is bad,' she thought before forming the communication circle to talk to Rias again.

"I found Issei's hoodie, but that's all I can find of him," She informs her president.

There was a brief silence. "...I see. So he didn't use the flyer?"

"Unlikely. Otherwise, he would've used it by now.

"And what of the Fallen Angel?"

"She got away," Koneko heard a sigh on the other end. It was clear that she was frustrated.

"I see," Rias spoke after a minute. "Alright, I want you to come back to us, Koneko."

"But what about the Stray? It could still be alive."

"If it's still alive, then we can come back as a group. But for now, I want you to return."

"Understood," a magic circle formed underneath Koneko's feet and she teleported away.

 **...**

Issei managed to stand up after heading to the woods, but the pain is still there. 'Ow. Ow. Ow. Everything hurts. Everything fucking hurts,' Issei lets out a low grunt while leaning up against a tree.

'It was just like that dream I had...No. This seemed...different,' Issei recalled the dream where he saw a monstrous figure in the flames, but it was nothing like that giant snail.

'That's right. In my dream, the monster had wings. And it looked more like...a dragon,' Issei continued to move forward, slowly limping to the nearest tree.

'Forget about that for now. I just need to focus on getting the hell out of here. God, I hope Yuuma is safe,' Issei looks around to see if she's nearby. 'I don't see her nearby. Maybe she got away safely,' he tried to think optimistically. However, his thoughts were cut off when he heard a loud shriek, causing him to fall over in surprise.

"Ah fuck," Issei groaned as he tried to get up again. However, all he could manage to do this time was to sit up against a tree. 'This is bad. This is really bad. How did that creature end up over here?' Issei thought to himself.

Soon, the brunette saw the snail approach him. His vision was hazy. He felt light-headed. 'There is no way I can escape this,' he thought.

'So...this is how I die, huh? Shit man, couldn't I at least Yuuma one last time. Maybe even grab her tits?' Issei started chuckling at this point. 'Really? I can't stop thinking about tits even on my death bed. God, I'm so pathetic...I don't wanna go out like this. I don't wanna die pathetically,' he thought while closing his eyes.

 **["Do you want to live?"]** A deep voice was suddenly heard in Issei's head. 'Wait...what?'

 **["Do you want to live?"]** The voice repeated.

Issei thought about it for a moment. Of course, he wanted to live! He never even had his chance to form a harem! He wanted to see Yuuma again. 'I don't wanna die a virgin!' Issei suddenly thought.

 **["Do you want power?"]** The voice asked Issei another question.

'Wait a minute. Who are you?' Issei questioned.

 **["Answer the question. Do you want power or not?"]** The voice repeated the question again.

'Power? The power to do what?'

 **["You may be able to escape death by the hands of this monster. But only if you have the power."]**

'Fine. I want power. I wanna survive!' Issei's resolve suddenly began to grow. 'I'm not gonna die a virgin! And I won't rest until I become a harem king!'

The voice in Issei's head seemed puzzled at the boy's priorities. However, the voice did find Issei's sudden resolve admirable. **["Then summon me."]** The voice said.

The snail came closer and closer to Issei. The face on the shell opened its eyes to suddenly spot Issei.

'Summon? Wait what?' Issei looked confused. Summon? How was he supposed to do that? What the hell was he even gonna summon?

 **["I don't have time to go in detail. Just listen."]** The voice said, **["If you wanna use me, think of the strongest person in your eye."]**

'The strongest person?' Issei thought. He felt like asking more questions but decided to toss them aside as the snail got closer. He then began to think about the strongest person in his eyes. Only one person could ever come to mind.

'Son Goku,' Issei thought. His favorite show growing up was Dragon Ball. He collected every volume of the manga. He even made extra sure to keep it separated from his ecchi stuff. 'Ok. Now what?'

 **["Now. Think of their strongest attack and imitate it. Make sure to put emphasis on your left hand** **and put all your weight behind it."]**

Part of Issei felt like he was being trolled by someone, but decided to roll with it. He was too desperate to care about looking like an idiot. He put his hands behind his back, prepping to do the Kamehameha wave.

'Kaaaa...meeee...haaaa...meeee' Issei imagined a ball of energy between his hands. The energy kept expanding in his mind. Finally, he thrusts his hands forward, putting everything he had into the attack.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Issei shouted with all his might. He had no idea why he was doing this anymore, but he just kept on shouting.

All of a sudden, the back of Issei's left hand began to glow green. Then, an orb started to form. Issei raised his hand up in the air by impulse. 'What the hell?' He thought in surprise.

 **["DRAGON BOOSTER!"]** The voice in Issei's head could suddenly be heard through his hand.

Red energy began to form around Issei, though it eventually started to focus on his left arm. After about a minute, a gauntlet began to materialize. It had golden spikes jutting out from each side, and the green orb glowed on the back of his hand.

 **["BOOST!"]** The voice suddenly shouted and Issei somehow felt stronger. However, before Issei could relax, the snail began to spit fireballs at Issei.

"Shit!" Issei shouted while dodging to the right. He momentarily forgot about the amount of pain he was in, so he suddenly fell on his face.

 **["BOOST!"]** The voice shouted again. 'Dammit! What do I do now?' Issei thought.

 **["There is a hole in this monster's shell."]** The voice started talking through Issei's hand, the orb flashing with each syllable he uttered. **["If you can attack through the hole, you may be able to hit its weak point that the shell is protecting. However, it may be wiser to run away for right now."]**

Issei suddenly stood up, ignoring the pain. "No...I'm not running away. I never ran from a fight before. This is no different right?" Issei began to mutter.

 **["BOOST!"]**

Issei ran past another fireball as he kept charging at the Stray Devil. **["BOOST!"]** 'And besides, I don't think this thing will let me get away,' he thought to himself.

 **['Hmm...charging ahead with nothing held back. An admirable way to die, I suppose.']** The voice thought to himself. However, his thoughts were heard by Issei.

"Hey jackass, didn't you hear me!?" Issei shouted while dodging another fireball.

"I'M!" He dodges another ball flame.

"NOT!" The impact of the explosion launched Issei forward, forcing him to hit the nearest tree.

"GONNA!" **["BOOST!"]** Issei jumped up to the highest nearest branch, then dived forward towards the snail's broken shell.

"DIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!" **["EXPLOSION!"]** Issei started to explode with energy all of a sudden as he threw a left punch with everything he had, piercing the membrane. The giant snail and its shell screamed in pain while Issei kept crushing it with his punch.

Soon, the Stray Devil was smashed, killed by Issei's punch. Issei himself was leaning against a tree, breathing heavily.

 **["RESET!"]** The voice said as Issei sat down. "Goddamn...what was that?" Issei, feeling all the pain come back to him. He looks at his hand. "What...are you?"

 **["I am the Sacred Gear, Boosted Gear. But before I was in the state you see now, I was once a powerful dragon known as the Red Dragon Emperor."]** The voice spoke to Issei. **["But I suppose you can call me Ddraig."]**

 **...**

Issei woke up suddenly. He looked around only to see that he was in his room. He rubbed his head in confusion, and in slight pain. 'Ugh...Man...What happened?' Issei thought to himself as he saw the door open. His mother walked in through the door. "Issei? Sweetie? Are you alright?" Mrs. Hyoudou asked, her voice full of concern.

Issei let out a quiet groan. "Yeah, Mom. I'm fine," he told her. His mother then sat down next to him on his bed. She looked kind of angry now.

"What were you doing, boy? Your father and I were very worried about. You never came home. Did you get into another fight?"

Issei looks over at mom. He couldn't tell her the truth about the weird monster that he saw when he was out on the date with Yuuma.

"Look, Mom. Yeah, I...ran into some guys after my date with Yuuma. They were pretty vicious, too. I'm sorry," Issei tried to apologize, but his mother looked confused.

"Who's Yuuma? A-and you went out on a date?" She asked, shocked.

'Wait...What?' Issei thought in confusion. "Yuuma...? You know, that girl I went out with? I told you about this last week."

"I would've remembered something like that," Mrs. Hyoudou said to him.

"Come on, Mom. You have to remember. You and Dad wouldn't stop celebrating."

"That sounds like something we do...but I honestly don't remember."

'Shit!' Issei thought frustratingly while looking around frantically for his phone. He finds it and opens it up to show his mom the contacts list...only to find nothing. 'It's not here! What the hell?'

"Sweetie...are you not feeling well?"

"N-no! It's here! It has to be-"

"Issei...it's alright. Just get some rest for right now," Mrs. Hyoudou said before getting up and walking out of his bedroom. Issei lays his head on the pillow. "It doesn't make any sense," Issei mutters.

He then decides to text Matsuda and Motohama about his date. However, both of them responded saying that neither of them doesn't remember or believe him. Issei shut his phone in frustration. 'What the hell?'

 **["Sleep well, kid?"]** Ddraig spoke inside Issei's head.

'Huh? Oh...hey Ddraig. Yeah, I'm fine I guess. Still feel like shit, though.'

 **["I see. So, what are you gonna do now?"]**

'What do you mean?' Issei thought in confusion.

 **["You will most likely be targeted by other Devils now that you've awakened me."]** Ddraig explained.

'Wait...Devils?'

 **["Yes. That creature you defeated is known as a Devil. There will be more coming for just like that creature, some even stronger."]**

'Oh good. And maybe we could have the sky literally rain shit on me!' Issei thought sarcastically. Ddraig sighed in his head.

 **["Look, you can either sit there, or you can get off of your ass and do something about it."]** The dragon spoke with frustration in his voice.

'Like what? You mean train?'

 **["Exactly. Truth be told, kid, it's an absolute miracle that you're even alive. Your body can barely handle my power as you are now."]**

'Power? You mean that boost thing?' Issei recalled the number of times he heard Ddraig shout that word. 'Wait, is that how I was able to beat that...demon or whatever?'

 **["Devil."]** Ddraig corrected, **["And yes. The Boosted Gear a has the ability to double the host's power every 10 seconds."]**

'Wait. Really!? That's fucking awesome!' Issei thought excitedly.

 **["However, it comes with a very hefty price. The host can only hold so much power depending on their skill."]**

Issei then frowned as a thought occurred to him. 'I guess I'm weak then, huh?' He asked Ddraig somberly.

 **["Weaker than most, yes."]** Ddraig answered honestly, **["But with the right training, you could grow into a powerful warrior."]**

Issei sat quietly for a moment before looking out the window. He thought about Yuuma and his harem dream. **["It's up to you. Either way, if I die, then I simply move on to another host."]**

'Wait a minute. If you just move on when you die, then why tell me all this?' Issei seemed confused at Ddraig's remark.

 **[" For a brief moment...I was moved by your resolve. But I guess the only reason you were acting like that was because you didn't want to die. Since now it seems like you're gonna give up."]**

'What the hell do you mean, "give up?" Don't you see? This is perfect!' Issei began to grin, 'I have a second chance now! I'm gonna use it to become a harem king! I'm gonna do everything in my power to achieve that goal! If that means that I need to train in order to survive, then so be it! I'm gonna bust my ass for that future harem!' Issei thought passionately. 'There's no way that I'm gonna die a virgin!'

Ddraig started to chuckle, confusing Issei, **["I have a feeling that you're gonna be quite the interesting host. Very well, then. Let me see you put that resolve to the test!"]**

 **End**


	4. Ch 4: The Tedium of Grinding

**Highschool DxD: Road of the Dragon King**

Ch. 4: The Tedium of Grinding

 **...**

Issei decided to not go to school for the rest of the week. He missed two days anyways due to being unconscious. After awhile, Issei decided to sneak out of his bedroom and head to the park. He began doing some stretches.

"So I've been meaning to ask this, what exactly is a Sacred Gear?" Issei said.

On the surface, it looked like Issei was a crazy person who was talking to himself. However, a voice did respond to his question. This voice belonged to the Welsh Dragon, also known as Ddraig.

 **["Hmm...How do I put this..."]** Ddraig began to ponder, **["The best way I can describe it is basically they're items that were created by God and gets passed down to humans."]**

There was a brief moment of silence, save for Issei's grunts as he dropped to the ground and started doing pushups. "That's it?" Issei asked, 'I figured there would be more to it than that.'

 **["There is."]** Ddraig interjected. Issei forgot that their minds are linked together. Therefore, Issei's thoughts could be heard by the dragon. **["These items can create all sorts of miracles."]**

"Like what?"

 **["Well for starters, it can boosts one's power exponentially."]** Ddraig sighed.

"Ok. Can I get another example that doesn't make you sound like a smartass?" Issei complained.

 **["Like I said, kid, these items can do all sorts of things. The possibilities are practically endless."]**

"Alright, alright. I think I get it," Issei grunted out while reaching his twenty-fifth pushup. 'The only way I'd get a better idea about them is if I see some for myself.'

Eventually, Issei managed to reach 50 pushups, much to his disappointment. 'Damn. So at my base power, I can only reach fifty? Looks like I need to train a lot more,' Issei thought before he began shadowboxing. He started out with two or three jabs before he incorporated a cross, a right hook, a left uppercut, and finally ending it with a quick one-two.

'I'm sure there are Devils out there that are much faster than this,' Issei continued berating himself before sitting on the grass, wondering what to do next. 'Maybe I should move on to weight training.'

 **...**

Issei went to the nearest gym to start his weight training. He began a little small with 15 lb. dumbells. He did thirty curls for each arm. He then went and did some barbell squats with 75 lbs. on his shoulder. He saw a punching bag in the corner of his eye. 'Nah...maybe later,' Issei thought while continuing with his squats. He decided to call it quits after forty squats.

 **["It's best not to overdo it, kid."]** Ddraig told the heavily breathing brunette.

'Yeah...*huff* *huff*...sounds like a good idea,' Issei thought.

 **...**

Issei left the gym soon after and headed to a sports store. He bought a pair of ten-pound ankle weights and a hand gripper with his allowance.

'Weird. I never thought I'd be buying training equipment with my money. I usually always get porn,' Issei thought.

 **["So tell me, why exactly aren't the girls swooning over you?"]** Ddraig rolled his eyes at the boy.

'Hey hey. Guess what? Go fuck yourself!' Issei went ahead and put on the ankle weights. He could immediately tell the difference. 'This feels weird.'

Issei began to lightly jog to his house. His feet felt heavy from the extra weight. 'Damn. This is gonna be a huge pain in the ass,' Issei complained while training with the hand gripper.

 **["Well, you could always just give up and die a...what did you call yourself at one point? Oh yeah. A super virgin!"]** Ddraig smirked, hoping to get a reaction from Issei. And get a reaction he did.

'Alright you giant, shit-talking lizard, I'm gonna show you. I can get through this. I will become stronger!' This was Issei's last thought before he went to bed.

 **...**

Issei began to dream. His dream consisted of various naked girls, including Murayama and Yuuma, swooning and running their hands all over his overly muscular body while he flexes.

"That's right, ladies, drink it all in," Issei spoke in his dream.

"Kyaah! Issei's so strong!" Murayama said happily.

The other girls began to giggle while Issei smirks arrogantly. He looks over to Yuuma, who simply smiles warmly at him. All of a sudden, the surroundings became a black void. All that was left was Issei, who shrank back down to his normal size, and Yuuma.

Yuuma looked down to avoid Issei's gaze before she turned her back to him and floated away.

"Yuuma! Wait!" Issei ran after her, but he could never catch up. Soon, Yuuma began to widen the gap between the two of them. However, Issei kept trying to desperately run after her.

"Yuuma! Yuuuuumaaaa!" Issei called out to her, but she eventually disappeared from his vision. Soon, Issei collapsed out of exhaustion.

 **...**

"Gh!" Issei jolted awake. He looked around and saw that he was in his room. He groans while rubbing his forehead. 'Yuuma...' He thought quietly before shaking his head.

'I gotta focus for right now. I need to get stronger,' Issei got out of bed, doing some light stretches before heading out and starting his training regimen again.

 **...**

Throughout the week, Issei continued this impromptu training regimen. He would always start out with some light stretching before doing either pushups, sit-ups, or pull-ups on the monkey bars. He would then work on his shadowboxing, incorporating various combos and even throwing in a few flicker jabs. At the gym, he would practice more combos on the punching bag and work on his weightlifting. By the end of the week, Issei could hold 100 lbs on his back while doing squats and could do 100 curls with 50 lb. dumbells. Afterward, he would do a three mile run with 10 lbs. each strapped to his ankles. At home, Issei would continue to work on his gripping strength with the hand grip while taking notes on how to pick up chicks from the manga he read, much to Ddraig's ire.

 **["Good to know you have your priorities, kid."]**

'Hey, thanks,' Issei thought happily, not catching Ddraig's sarcasm, causing him to groan.

During Issei's training, Ddraig would explain to Issei about the world around him, or more specifically that Devils wouldn't be the only one targeting him.

'What do you mean?'

 **["I mean that there are other beings that will come after you because of your power, not just Devils."]**

'Like what?'

 **["Angels and their Fallen counterpart. However, those may not be as common around here due to the fact that this is a Devil's territory."]**

'I gotcha, so everyone's coming after me, huh? Then I need to make sure that I'm strong enough that I can kick all their asses.'

 **['There are those that may not have the attention to harm you. You could gain powerful allies. I hope you realize that soon, boy']** Ddraig thought to himself.

 **...**

As the week was coming to an end, Issei learned a lesson part of harsh reality, at least according to him: Training is a lot like grinding in an RPG. It may seem fun at first and you feel like you're making real progress, but it gets old, tiring, monotonous, and you may not even reach the desired result that you want.

It was Saturday night as Issei began walking home after his three-mile run. "Holy fuck am I tired," Issei groaned.

 **["I'd say you've made some decent progress for a human."]** Ddraig tried to reassure him.

'Thanks...I guess,' Issei stopped in his tracks as he found himself in the park where he last saw Yuuma. His expression grew somber as he started to remember the date, or more specifically how the date ended. 'I hope you're ok, Yuuma.'

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" A voice suddenly spoke out, causing Issei to jump slightly and look around. Issei spots a middle-aged man wearing a trench coat and a fedora.

"You look lost, kid," the man spoke to Issei while smirking.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't think you'll be able to lure me to your windowless van with a line like that," Issei smirks back at him, "You gotta tell me about the candy you got in there."

"Well, now. The little shit's got jokes," the man's smile grew wider, "My name is Dohnaseek. And simply put, I'm here to put an end to what my colleague couldn't finish."

All of a sudden, a pair of black wings began to sprout from Dohnaseek's back. Issei suddenly jumped back as Dohnaseek flew up into the air.

'A Fallen Angel? Here!?' Issei thought in shock. However, he tried to compose himself.

"So what do you want with a guy like me? You gonna flash me the goods?"

Dohnaseek furrowed his eyebrows before holding out his hand. "As a matter of fact..." a blue light began to form in his hand. It began to take the shape of a spear.

'Wait what?'

 **["Both types of Angels have the ability to manipulate light. Be careful."]** Ddraig warned as Dohnaseek hurled the light spear at Issei. Issei quickly jumped to the right as the spear came down.

'Shit! This is bad,' Issei thought, 'Welp, time to put my training to the test.'

Issei raised his left hand in the air and shouted, "Boosted Gear!"

Soon, a green light wrapped around his arm as the gauntlet began to form. **["BOOST!"]**

Dohnaseek raised his eyebrows in surprise before he began to speak, "The Boosted Gear? So, one of the Thirteen Longinus is in the hands of a shitling? Interesting," the Fallen Angel started to form another light spear.

'Crap. I just realized I haven't done any training with the Boosted Gear itself,' Issei kept diving as Dohnaseek kept throwing more light spears.

"Don't tell me this is the best you can do, boy!" Dohnaseek shouted, "Come on, show me what you got!" The Fallen Angel continued to throw light spears at the boy. Issei barely managed to dodge each spear as he hides behind a tree.

'Dammit. It's because of these stupid weights,' Issei took off his ankle weights, which did help lighten the load. However, it didn't help with his current situation as Issei yelps as he ducks down to dodge the light spear crashing through the tree.

The tree began to tumble down, forcing Issei to run back out in the line of Dohnaseek's fire. "Hold still so I can kill you!"

'Dammit! This would be so much easier if he would just stop taking pot shots, the cheap fuck!' Issei kept rolling around, trying desperately to keep himself alive. Issei hid behind the fountain.

'Wait a minute...What if that's all he can do?' Issei thought to himself while smirking before quickly diving away from the fountain as Dohnaseek destroyed it with another spear.

"Come on, pops! Is that all you got!?" Issei shouted, "My dementia-riddled grandmother has better aim than you!" Dohnaseek growled. "Sooner or later, you'll tire yourself out, brat!"

Issei was breathing heavily. He was already tired from his workout and the fact that he was constantly rolling around to keep himself from getting stabbed didn't help matters. 'Dammit, he's right. But he's getting frustrated. If I can keep pushing, I can come out on top...I hope.'

"Maybe you're right! So how about we make it quick, then? Or are you afraid that you're gonna break a hip?"

"If that's how you wanna play, then so be it!" Dohnaseek began a quick descend to the ground before suddenly charging at Issei.

'Shit! He's too fast!' Issei started to regret his words now. He then began to think about adding another point to that grinding metaphor: Sometimes, you accidentally run into an enemy that you're not ready for.

 **["BOOST!"]** Issei desperately jabbed his left fist forward while, at the same time, Dohnaseek thrust his light spear at Issei.

 **["BOOST!"]** The result was that both Dohnaseek's spear and Issei's fist collided, sparks erupted in the center as the two try to overpower one another.

 **["BOOST!"]** 'Come on, one more,' Issei was being pushed back. He was hoping that he could struggle long enough to eventually overpower the Fallen Angel.

Unfortunately, Dohnaseek gave an extra push, forcing Issei's fist back. 'Fuck!'

"Game over, kid," Dohnaseek formed another spear, ready to stab Issei. However, a small ball of black energy dropped down toward Dohnaseek, forcing the Fallen to jump back. "What the hell!?" He shouted.

Issei looked stunned as he saw the energy come out of nowhere. Soon, however, he quickly recovered his footing. 'Roll with it,' was his immediate thought before charging at Dohnaseek.

 **["BOOST!"]** Issei swings his left fist at Dohnaseek, but Dohnaseek manages to block it with his right arm. "Grh!" Dohnaseek grunted as he continues to stagger.

He managed to regain his footing but was quickly cut off by a sudden bolt of lightning. "Shit! Goddammit!" He tried to fly around to dodge the lightning that kept coming down and another ball of destruction.

Soon, Dohnaseek stopped in his tracks as he saw the source of the attacks, two busty girls in school uniforms. One had hair as red as blood, the other had her long, raven hair tied in a ponytail.

"Red hair...So you're Rias Gremory?" Dohnaseek quickly composed himself while tipping his hat.

"My name is Rias Gremory, soon to be the next head of the Gremory family," Rias tells him.

'Rias...?' Issei thought in surprise. He then looked over to Akeno, who simply waved at him with a smile on her face, 'Akeno, too? What's going on?'

Rias appeared rather calm, but she had a fierce gaze toward Dohnaseek. Her normal turquoise eyes turned into a deep shade of crimson while glaring at him.

"And may I ask what exactly it is that you're doing in my territory?"

"Apologies, heiress, I simply got lost while I was taking a stroll. I take it this boy is yours?" Dohnaseek points to Issei, who is getting up, ready to fight Dohnaseek again despite the situation.

"Yes. This boy here is with me," Rias answers him, much to the shock of Issei.

"Hey wait a min-"

"Quiet," Koneko said, suddenly appearing behind Issei, making the boy jump while letting out a quick yelp.

"I see. Well, the last thing I want is to cross paths with a Gremory. I shall take my leave now," Dohnaseek flapped his wings and jumped up into the air.

"Hey wait, get back here!" Issei shouted, "I've got one more round in me! Don't throw in the towel now, dammit!"

Dohnaseek ignored Issei's words, "I hope that we never meet again, Gremory!" Dohnaseek flew away, leaving them behind.

However, Issei wasn't content with Dohnaseek having the last word, "Eat me! Don't forget to write!"

He then looked over to see Rias, Akeno, and Koneko all staring at him. Issei started scratching his head awkwardly, "Eh heh heh heh...Sup?"

Rias smiled as she approached the brunette. "Hello. Issei Hyoudou, is it? I'd like to have a word with you."

"Really now?" Issei began to sweat bullets, "That sounds great and all, but I just realized that I have this...thing...that I do...sometimes...always...right now...Bye!"

Issei tried to make a run for it but was stopped by Koneko grabbing the back of his jacket, holding him in place.

Akeno giggled in amusement while Rias simply kept a smile on her face, "Come with me. We need to talk," there was a glint of seriousness in her words as she began to walk away with Akeno not too far behind. Koneko began to follow them while dragging Issei in tow, who was crying a river in tears.

'Grandpa in Heaven, if I see you when I die, I want you to know that it was in the hands of three beautiful girls,' Issei thought.

 **End**


	5. Ch 5: Meeting the Occult Research Club

**Highschool DxD: Road of the Dragon King**

Ch. 5: Meeting the Occult Research Club

 **...**

Issei was currently being dragged to the old school building, still crying a river of tears. "Um...can you let me go now?" He asked the person dragging him.

The person in question was Koneko Toujou, a first-year student at Kuoh Academy and is also believed to be the school mascot. She looked back at the boy and gave him a quick "No," which only made Issei cry more.

Behind the two of them were the "Two Great Beauties of Kuoh," also known as Rias Gremory and Akeno Himejima. The two looked at Issei with smiles on their faces, almost as if seeing a boy being dragged by a much shorter girl is normal for them. 'Then again...these girls did use magic...I think,' Issei thought.

"Koneko, Akeno and I are gonna go on ahead, ok?" Rias tells Koneko.

"Kay."

"Alright. We'll see you there," Rias and Akeno then teleport with magic circles underneath them.

'Holy shit, they can teleport!?' Issei thought in shock. He then looked over at the girl dragging him, "So uhhh...Where exactly are we going?" Issei asked her.

"Old school building."

"Why?"

"Because."

"...You guys aren't gonna hurt me, are you?"

"That depends."

"Depends on what?"

"You."

Issei sighed heavily. It was bad enough that he felt stupid for trying to strike up a conversation while being dragged, but it was apparent that Koneko wasn't the talkative type. Or maybe it's that she didn't like him. Maybe both.

'I wonder who these people are? And what do they want with me?' Issei thought while looking back at Koneko once more. "Hey, mind letting me walk?" Issei asked calmly. Koneko looked back at the boy, her face showed annoyance at Issei's insistence of wanting her to release him.

Eventually, she realized that it didn't matter whether she let him go or not. After all, even if he did try to run, she could catch him easily.

"Fine," Koneko suddenly released him, causing the boy to drop to the ground a low grunt. He quickly got up and began walking with her to their destination.

 **...**

Issei and Koneko eventually made it to the old school building. The two head inside and Issei noticed that it seemed to be in good condition despite the fact that it's been practically abandoned.

The two stop in front of a door labeled "Occult Research Club." This made Issei smirk in amusement. 'Occult Research Club? I didn't know Rias was into that shit.'

Koneko opens up the door to the clubroom, revealing a room with weird symbols all over the walls and ceiling. On the floor is a large circle in the center. There's also a couch and a chair on each side. Near the windows is a large desk where Rias is currently sitting in. "Welcome, Issei," she smiled at him as Koneko went to sit on the couch and pulled out a chocolate bar.

Issei went to sit on the couch as well, "Uhhh hey," Issei said, clearly feeling awkward about this. 'What the hell do these girls want?'

Akeno handed Issei a cup of tea, "Here you go," she said while bending down, her chest jiggling slightly. 'Holy shit,' Issei thought while staring at Akeno's chest. She let out a light chuckle before going over to stand next to Rias.

"So, Issei," Rias said, "You're probably wondering why you're here."

"Yeah. That was gonna be my first question."

"I understand that you have a lot of questions right now, but I want you to save them for later. First, I'd like to introduce ourselves to you. My name is Rias Gremory, the President of the Occult Research Club."

'She's probably doing this as a form of courtesy. I mean, who wouldn't know these girls?' Issei thought as Rias continued.

"And this is Akeno, our Vice President," she introduces Akeno while Akeno herself gives a wave to Issei with a smile that seems to be permanently glued to her face.

"The person sitting next to you is Koneko," Koneko barely looked at Issei before continuing to eat her chocolate.

"And the person in the corner over there is Yuuto," she points to the back corner of the room to reveal a blonde boy around the same age as Issei with rather handsome features giving a light wave and a gentle smile while saying "Hey." Kiba Yuuto was literally the most popular guy in school and received the nickname the "Prince of Kuoh." He was also considered to be Issei's self-proclaimed arch-nemesis.

"YOOOUUUU!" Issei suddenly shouts at the top of his lungs while pointing at the blonde boy, who looked shocked at the unexpected reaction.

The brunette walked over to the blonde boy and suddenly grabs his shirt. "You son of a bitch! You're a member of the of this club, too!?"

"Y-yeah," Kiba did not know what to make of this situation.

"You sneaky bastard! You trying to get fresh with all these girls! Huh!?" Issei starts to shake the poor boy, "You handsome fuck! I should teach you a lesson!"

"Uh-I'm sorry?"

"Issei, knock it off," Rias told the brunette, but he wasn't having any of it.

"You've soaked enough panties, already!" Tears began to comically flow down Issei's cheeks at this point, "Come on, man! Give poor saps like us a chance!"

Rias sighed while closing her eyes. A small tick mark appeared on her head. "Koneko."

"Got it," Koneko stood up and approached the two boys.

"It's not fair! It's no-" Issei was cut off by a sudden blow to the head delivered by Koneko. Kiba breathed in relief as Issei being dragged by Koneko back to the couch. Issei was now sporting a large bruise on the top of his head.

"Forgive me, but I couldn't think of a proper way for you to calm down," Rias apologized. "Now, the reason why I brought you here is because I have some questions for you."

"Alright. Shoot."

"Very well, then. First off, may I ask why exactly you skipped school for the entire week?"

'Wait, seriously?' Issei thought. "Well uhhh...Well, I haven't been feeling too good lately, so I just decided to say fuck it, you know?"

"Is that right?" Rias asked while smirking, it was almost as if she could see right through him. Issei gulped, feeling tense all of a sudden. "It wouldn't have anything to do with that date you had Sunday, would it?"

Issei's eyes widened. 'Wait, what!? How does she know about that? Is she messing with me!?' Issei's head was running rampant with thoughts about the date. Throughout the week, Issei was texting Matsuda and Motohama, trying his damnedest to remember the date that he told them about. However, they both thought he was insane and didn't believe a word of it.

Issei quickly recovered and gave a smirk, "Come on, you don't know about my reputation? How could a guy like me-"

"Yuuma Amano."

Issei stopped after Rias said that name. 'What the hell?' Rias then pulled a picture from under her desk. It was a picture of him and Yuuma together.

"We've been observing you for the past couple weeks. That man you saw is known as a Fallen Angel, same as this girl here," Rias explained.

'Are you serious!?' Issei thought in shock. 'So Yuuma is a Fallen Angel, just like-' he then thought back to Dohnaseek, more specifically his words.

 _"My name is Dohnaseek. And simply put, I'm here to put an end to what my colleague couldn't finish."_

'No way. So she's the same as him?' Issei began to glare at Rias. "Who the hell are you?"

"Well, to put it simply, we are Devils?" Rias said.

'Everyone here is-' he looked around suddenly as Rias announced this. 'Shit! I really am gonna die!'

"Issei," Rias spoke gently, "I want you to know that we do not know carry any intentions of hurting you."

Issei rolled his eyes at this, 'Tell that to the midget She-Hulk,' he thought but made damn sure to keep his mouth shut, lest he wants to taste full extent of the loli's wrath. "So...why exactly did you bring me here?"

Rias smiled at the boy, "I'm glad you asked. I hope that it's apparent now that you're being targeted by people for your Sacred Gear. So, I came up with a proposition for you."

"Ok?" Issei was confused about this.

"How would you like to be a Devil?" Rias asked suddenly.

'Ok seriously, how many more curve balls are gonna be thrown at me tonight!?' Issei thought in shock and partial annoyance.

"Let me explain," Rias said while pulling out a pawn piece for chess, "Thousands of years ago there was a war waged between the Devils, Angels, and Fallen Angels. This was known as the Great War. Unfortunately, this war caused a lot of casualties on all sides. So, Devils had to come up with a new system to preserve our race..."

'Great. Because this is how I wanna end my night, with a damn history lesson,' Issei thought while wearing a bored expression, though he continued to listen.

"This system is known as the Evil Piece system," Rias held up the pawn piece. "We Devils use these to reincarnate humans into one of our own. And then make these Devils apart of a peerage. I myself am the leader of this peerage you see before you, or the King if you will."

'Wait, chess pieces are used to turn people into Devils?' Issei thought, surprised at the notion of such a concept. "So you're all apart of this...peerage thingy?" He looks around at the others, who all seemed to give a small but quick nod.

"Yes. These three are members of my peerage. My servants," Rias explained.

Something about the word "servant" rubbed him the wrong way, but he didn't show it. "So, why tell me all this?" Issei asked though he had a rough idea.

"So, how about it? Would you like to join us as a Devil?" Rias asked. "You seem to be training and becoming a Devil will boost your strength. Plus, you wouldn't have to worry about anyone targeting you. You'd be under our protection."

Issei sat there silently while Rias was trying to sell him the benefits. Just as he was about to speak, Rias continued.

"You'd also be able to gain servants of your own. Provided if you manage to rise up in the ranks of the Devil society," she smiled as she gave her final point.

"Nah."

Rias's face seemed to brighten up. "Fantastic. Then let me say welcome aboar-come again?" Rias frowned as she just realized that Issei turned her down.

The brunette gave a heavy sigh before standing up, "Look, all of that sounds cool and everything. And I appreciate you saving me back there..."

"Buuut...?" Rias had an obviously disappointed look on her face but wanted to understand Issei's reasoning for turning her down.

"It's just that I don't like the idea of being shackled to someone for all eternity as a servant. And the fact that you've been stalking me for the past couple weeks kinda pisses me off," Issei began to head to the door. 'And I refuse to believe that Yuuma was actually trying to kill me.'

"Issei, wait," Rias stood up, "I know that it wasn't right to spy on you. But we were trying to do what was best for you. There's a possibility that the Fallen Angels will come after you again and I won't be able to-"

"Then don't worry about it," Issei cuts her off. He looks back at her with determination in his eyes. He then raises his arm up while pointing his index finger up in the air.

"I'm going to become a harem king. The king is the one who stands out on top, right?" He then drops his finger down to point at Rias. "I can't exactly be king while being shackled to you."

"Issei, like I said, you can obtain a peerage of your own once you obtain the status of a High Class-" Rias starts to say, but shuts up when she stares into Issei's eyes. It looked like his gaze was full of determination.

"I appreciate the offer, but..." Issei spoke calmly while opening the door and turning his back, "I'm gonna walk my path, reach my goals through my own means." The brunette shut the door behind him, leaving the stunned Devils behind. Rias began to look down slightly

Kiba was the first to speak, "Well...he seems...interesting," the blonde boy was trying to be nice about it. However, Koneko decided to go for a more...straight-forward approach, "He's a pervert AND an idiot."

Akeno smiled, "He does seem interesting. It's honestly a shame that he turned down the offer. Right, Rias?"

"No," Rias said, surprising everyone, "We can't give up. You saw it, right? He holds the Boosted Gear. There's no way we can give that up."

Akeno looked at Rias before sighing, "Look, I'm not sure if we should pursue him anymore. He didn't like the idea of us watching him and he might lash out at us."

"Listen, Akeno. I refuse to give up someone with that much potential. I have a feeling that he would be a great asset to us. We need to recruit him through any means possible," Rias argued back.

"But if we force it on him, he'll not only consider us a threat, but there's a real possibility that he'll make an enemy out of all Devils. I suggest we cut our lo-" Akeno stopped speaking as she looked at the red-head.

Rias was looking down while biting the tip of her thumb. Her expression was one of frustration. Akeno knew what her friend was thinking about whenever she got like this, or rather, who she was thinking about. And lately, those thoughts have been running more rampant as that day got closer. Akeno put a hand on Rias's shoulder. "Alright...I get it. Why don't you leave this to me for right now, ok?" Rias said nothing but understood.

Akeno then walked over to Kiba with a smile on her face, "Now, Yuuto, do you think you could talk to Issei when he comes back to school?"

Kiba looked confused at this, "Eh? Me? But I don't think I'll be able to convince-"

"I'm not talking about convincing him. I'm talking about just hanging out with him. You know, try to be friends with him. It's much easier for you to do it since you're in some of his classes together."

"So you're saying I should try to gain his trust?" Kiba asked, trying to figure out his senior.

"Exactly. So, will you do it?" Akeno leaned forward.

Meanwhile, Kiba was still hesitant about this plan. It was painfully clear that Issei didn't like him, so he had no idea why or how this would work.

Akeno moved closer to Kiba, her lips right next to his ear, "Come on, won't you do it for me?"

Kiba sighed, "Very well. If that's your wish, then I'll do it," Kiba spoke, not phased by Akeno's actions.

Akeno pulled back while keeping a smile on her face, "Great, don't let me down, now," she winked at the blonde.

"Yes ma'am," Kiba bowed before he leaves.

Akeno pouted as Kiba left, 'Geez. He's no fun at all,' she thought while looking over to Rias, who was still in deep thought.

 **...**

While Issei was walking home, he could hear Ddraig chuckling in his head. "What's so funny?"

 **["You just surprised me, that's all."]**

"Really? How so?"

 **["You had a golden opportunity to obtain a harem. And yet, you walked away from it."]**

Issei grew silent for a moment. "I stand by what I said. I wanna do this my way."

 **["Haa ha ha ha ha haaaa. Interesting. Very interesting. Seems you're more prideful than I initially thought."]**

"Well, I'm glad I can entertain you."

Ddraig then thought about what Rias said earlier. **["The Gremory girl may have a point, however. What if this Yuuma girl is with that Fallen Angel you fought earlier? What if she wants you dead?"]** Ddraig asked seriously.

Issei grew silent...

 **["Kid?"]**

"...Then I'll die for her."

 **End**


	6. Ch 6: The Beast and the Prince

**Highschool DxD: Road of the Dragon King**

Ch 6: The Beast and the Prince

 **...**

At an abandoned church, Raynare was sprawled out on her bed. She let out a heavy sigh while looking at the scrunchie Issei gave her, her mind wandering back to the date she had with the brunette.

'Why can't I get that stupid boy out of my head?' She thought in frustration. The Fallen Angel would always think back to that goofy smile that he always wore around her. If she was being honest with herself, she grew rather fond of that smile. Matter of fact, she found it pretty cu-

'What am I doing? Stop! Stop!' Raynare placed her right hand on the side of her head and gripped her hair slightly. 'Remember why you're doing this. That's right, this is all for Lord Azazel. And besides...' She thought back to when she saw the charred remains of Issei's hoodie, assuming it was Issei himself, 'That guy's dead now.'

However, before she could dwell on her thoughts any longer, she saw a figure fly towards the church. She decided to head outside to take a closer look. When she stepped out, she was accompanied by two other girls. One was a tall, blue-haired woman wearing a business suit with her chest exposed, showing off her huge breasts. The other was a short, blonde girl wearing a gothic lolita dress and had her hair tied up in pigtails.

Soon, Dohnaseek landed in front of the three. "Welcome back," Raynare was the first to greet him.

"Hm," Dohnaseek let out a grunt, a usual tell-tale sign of his that something was wrong. The tall woman smirked, "What's the matter? I take it things didn't go too well?"

"As a matter of fact, no Kalawarner," Dohnaseek answered, "I encountered the Gremory heiress. And worse yet, I also found out she is allied with the current Red Dragon Emporer."

This statement shocked all three girls. "The Red Dragon Emporer? Are you serious!?" Raynare shouted. 'Who the hell could that be? It doesn't matter if we can get someone like that on our side-'

"Before you get your hopes up, the host is honestly pretty weak. Hell, he only managed to get in one lucky punch. And besides, I already mentioned that he's allied himself with the Gremory Devil," Dohnaseek said, cutting off whatever optimism that was filling up Raynare's head.

"So, he's a Devil now?" Raynare asked.

"More than likely at this point. In other words, he's our enemy," Dohnaseek spoke coldly.

After a brief moment of silence, the gothic lolita girl, known as Mittelt, asked the group, "So, what now? Do we go after the boy?"

"No. Like I said, the Gremory bitch is onto us. So, we should lay low for right now."

Mittelt tilted her head back, "Aww man. But it's so boring being cooped up all the time here."

The raven-haired Fallen sighed while looking at her comrade, "Dohnaseek's right, though. Now that the Devil knows we're in her territory, we have to be extra careful. We can't screw this up, now. Remember why we're doing this. This is all for the sake of Lord Azazel!" Raynare put her right fist over her chest. The others followed suit.

"For Lord Azazel!" The other three shouted.

 **...**

A couple days after meeting the Occult Research Club, Issei began to head back to school. On his way to the school building, he saw a girl drop her books. "Aw man," he heard the girl say as she bent down to pick up her books.

Issei walked up to her, deciding to help her out. He picked up one of the books for her. "Here," he handed her the book with a smile on his face.

She began to look at him with a smile, "Oh thank yooOH MY GOD!" The girl shouted as she just realized who she was talking to. She quickly snatched the book out of his hand and ran like hell, kicking up a huge cloud of dust along the way.

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! THE PERVERT IS BACK!"

Issei could only sigh while slinging his school bag over his shoulder. "Geez. Overreact, much?" He muttered before he continued walking. The other girls saw him, the majority having disgust in their eyes.

"The perv's back? Really?"

"Great. And I thought we'd only have to deal with the two, now."

"Why doesn't he just die already?"

'Oh no, don't hold back. Tell me how you really feel,' Issei thought, slightly annoyed with the girls' reactions. He thought it was best to keep walking forward, ignoring all the girls.

 **...**

Issei was heading to class when two guys suddenly tackled him. "Gah!" Issei shouted. He clenched his fists on impulse, ready to beat the hell out of whoever tackled him.

However, he stopped when he realized it was Matsuda and Motohama. "Oh. Hey guys," Issei deadpanned.

"Issei! We missed you so much!" Motohama shouted while crying a river of tears.

"Yeah man! We had no one to talk to about porn!" Matsuda also shouted just as overdramatically as Motohama. The girls looked out in the hall in disgust.

Issei could only drop a bead of sweat at these two. "Nice to see you too, guys. Now..." Issei's eyebrow twitching, "Would you get the hell off of me!?"

The two suddenly got up, "Sorry!" The two said simultaneously. Issei got up with a sigh as he heads back to his desk. "So, uhhh...Where have you been? How come you haven't come to school?" Motohama asked.

"I told you guys, I just wasn't feeling well," Issei answered with a hint of annoyance in his tone.

"Could it have anything to do with that imaginary girlfriend you kept texting us about?" Matsuda asked.

Issei growled quietly, "I told you assholes already, she's not imaginary!"

"Yeah yeah. Keep telling yourself that," Motohama waved off Issei's claim.

Issei growled a little more, only to eventually stop and sigh. "Alright, fine. So, how have you guys been?"

Matsuda grinned as Issei asked this. "Ah dude, I've been great! I just got this game recently where you go to a church to be a priest in training and along the way you get to bang these sexy nuns..."

Issei meanwhile, began to space out as his mind started to wander, though he made sure to give a casual response to try to make it seem like he's listening to Matsuda.

'I need to get stronger. I can't do much of anything as of now,' Issei thought back to the time when he fought Dohnaseek. 'The only reason I even got a hit in is because Rias saved me. And someone must have made that hole in the other monster's shell. Shit. This is frustrating...'

"Uh hey, Issei? You listening?" Matsuda asked, knocking Issei out of his thoughts.

"Huh? Oh yeah," Issei said quickly. The two guys stared at Issei for a moment. "Are you sure you're alright?" Motohama asked.

"Jesus, I keep telling you that I'm fine."

Matsuda and Motohama look to each other and then at Issei. After a minute, they shrug and continue their conversation about the various hentai games that they played, much to the ire of the girls in the class.

 **...**

The Perverted Trio hung out at in the courtyard during club activities. Matsuda and Motohama began to peek in the girls' locker room once more. Meanwhile, Issei only sighed. 'I should start training again after school,' Issei thought while looking down at the grass.

"This is fantastic!" Matsuda shouted.

"I know, right!? These girls are so sexy!" Motohama also shouted.

"Is it those perverts, again!?" That voice belonged to Murayama, clearly hearing the two through the wall.

"Dammit, they are so dead!" Katase yelled out. Issei could only sigh as he stood up, running ahead of Matsuda and Motohama.

"Hey, wait!" Motohama said while trying to get up as the Kendo Club started to chase down the boys.

Issei continued to run while his thoughts began to wander once more, 'Wait a minute, that's it! I could use this as part of my training. I mean, I need to get faster after all. And what better motivator to pick up speed than a crowd of pissed off girls?' He thought excitedly as he continued running.

However, his thoughts were cut short when Matsuda and Motohama catch up to Issei and suddenly grab his jacket, pulling him backward.

"A valiant comrade," Matsuda muttered, running past Issei who has a bewildered expression on his face.

"Your sacrifice shall not be in vain," Motohama said while the two leave Issei behind.

"Oh Goddammit!" Issei shouts as he tumbles to the ground. He recovers quickly only to see the girls close in on him. 'Shit shit shit! This is bad. What do I do!?' Issei tried to desperately run away.

Just as he was about to turn a corner, he was suddenly grabbed by someone, "Gah!" he shouted, caught off guard by the sudden movement.

Issei looked at the person dragging him by the wrist only to find out it's Kiba. The brunette was naturally baffled at this course of action that the Prince was taking.

Kiba suddenly skidded to a halt and just as Issei was about to question him, he suddenly through the brunette behind a bush. "In here," Kiba whispered. A few minutes later, the girls started to approach them, which made Issei realize that they ran quite a ways away in a short amount of time. 'Jesus, he's fast,' Issei thought.

The girls stopped to a halt when they saw their beloved Prince. "Ah. It's Kiba!" Katase said happily.

"Sorry to bother you, Kiba, but have you seen that pervert Issei around here?" Murayama said while looking around, making Issei freeze in place. 'Oh please oh please oh pleeeeease don't find me!' Issei thought frantically.

Kiba, however, smiled at the girls while pointing at the direction opposite of the bushes. "I believe I saw him go that way."

"Thank you so much!" The girls said before running in the direction that Kiba pointed, all the while shouting about killing the pervert.

Kiba let out a small sigh before looking over at the bushes. "Ok. They're gone," he said with a smile on his face.

"Buaaa!" Issei breathed out as he jumps out of the bushes. He looked over to see Kiba smiling at him. "You alright, man?" Kiba asked.

"Uhhh yeah. Thanks. I guess," Issei said confusedly. 'Why did this guy help me?' Issei began to walk away, but Kiba grabbed Issei's wrist again, "Hey, wait."

'Tch. This prick,' Issei looked back at Kiba, who was still smiling at him. "What?" Issei said, the irritation in his tone blatantly clear.

"I was thinking maybe we could grab a quick bite to eat. You know, just you and me," Kiba offered suddenly.

"Wait, is that why you saved me? Just so you could hang out with me?" Issei narrowed his eyes. 'And more importantly, why does it feel like you're asking me out on a date?' Issei had a worried expression on his face, though went unnoticed by Kiba.

"Well, I mean..." Kiba scratched the side of his face, 'Man, this is kinda difficult.' About a minute later, Kiba sighed and looked back at the brunette. "Look, I kind of feel like that we got off on the wrong foot. So, it's more of a way of saying that I'd like to start over."

Issei raised his eyebrow at that, "Really?...So, Rias didn't put you up to this?"

"Huh? Oh no. This is just something I came up with." 'And besides, this was actually the Vice President's idea,' Kiba made sure to keep that thought to himself.

"...*sigh* Alright. Alright. I'll do it, but I wanna make one thing clear, if this is about recruiting me, then the answer is no."

"Fine by me. The thought hasn't even crossed my mind." Kiba smiled.

The two went their separate ways as Ddraig started to talk to Issei in his mind. **["These Devils seem insistent on getting you to their side."]**

'Yeah, no shit. It's kind of annoying, honestly.'

 **["So, what's the plan?"]**

'Play along for now. I'm not in the mood nor am I strong enough to be getting into a confrontation at the moment.'

 **...**

After school, Issei and Kiba went to a fast-food joint, per Kiba's suggestion. Issei bit into the hamburger that he ordered. Kiba drank soda from a straw as the two sat in silence.

Needless to say, it was awkward for the blonde heartthrob. 'Come on, think of something to say,' Kiba has been trying to strike up a conversation with the perverted teen for the past ten minutes. However, nothing came up. This was a new experience for him to say the least.

Meanwhile, Issei was too busy with his own thoughts to even bother paying attention to Kiba. 'Maybe I should skip training for right now and look for Yuuma,' Issei thought back to when he was told by Rias that she was a Fallen Angel just like Dohnaseek. 'Maybe she's different. Maybe she won't kill me when I see her...I hope...Dammit...Ok. Ok. I just need to forget about that for right now and try to think of something else. Well...I do have this blonde prick trying to talk to me,' Issei didn't really want to talk to the guy. He wasn't interested in becoming a Devil to serve under Rias. Plus, there's that whole thing about Kiba being the most popular guy in school, which didn't help matters in trying to appeal to the brunette. 'Then again, he did pay for this. Ah, fuck it. I'm starting to get tired of the silence anyways.'

"What's it like?" Issei spoke all of a sudden, surprising Kiba.

"Uh. What?"

"Being a slave. What's it like?" Issei elaborated on his initially vague question.

Kiba frowned at Issei's choice of words but quickly replaced it with a smile. "It's actually not that bad. Even though we are servants, the President treats us like family," Kiba explained.

"Huh. Really?" Issei asked. "Well then again, Rias does seem nice." 'Nice hair, nice face, nice eyes, nice cheeeest,' Issei started to grow a lecherous smile as his mind's eye began to travel downward to the heiress's...assets.

"Issei?"

"Huh? Oh shit," Issei quickly shook his head of any perverted thoughts before rubbing his head. "Sorry. What were you saying?"

"Uhhh oh right," Kiba composed himself quickly. "Anyways, I was just gonna say that our President is very kind to us. She can be quite affectionate at times."

Issei became stiff after Kiba mentioned that. 'A-affectionate?' Issei then began to conjure up a fantasy in his head.

 **...**

 _Kiba stands before a naked Rias, caressing his cheeks gently while giving an alluring smile. "Ufufufu. You've worked very hard today. Now, I believe you deserve an award."_

 _The redhead gave a seductive smile to the prince while laying him down on the bed. Then, she slowly straddles his waist and-_

 **...**

"You son of a bitch!" Issei suddenly shouts as he's brought back to reality. He immediately reaches over the table and grabs Kiba's shirt.

"You mean she does that kind of stuff for you!?" Issei shakes Kiba violently. "Bastaaaaaarrrrd!"

"Wait wait wait! I think you misunderstood me! We don't do anything like that! Please stop! You're causing a scene!" Kiba frantically shouted while pointing to the right. Issei looked over to see a few customers and employees looking at the two like they were insane. Issei sighed and let go of Kiba.

The next couple of minutes were spent in silence, the two of them feeling slightly embarrassed about causing a scene. Issei eventually put his fist over his mouth while clearing his throat. "S-so uhh...What does the club do?" Issei asked.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Kiba spaced out for a moment, still embarrassed about earlier.

"The club. You know, the ORC? What do you guys do?"

"Oh...Oh! We uhh we make contracts with people," Kiba said, getting back into the conversation. He then brought his voice to a lower tone, though not necessarily a whisper, "Humans summon us through flyers that we hand out. Then, we do whatever they wish, for a price of course."

"What, they give up their souls or something?" Issei asked.

Kiba, however, shook his head. "No. That's not something we do anymore. We just get money or something else that's valuable."

"Holy shit, you get paid!?" Issei asked the blonde boy who nodded in response. "Nice. What do you do exactly?"

Kiba smiles as Issei seems genuinely interested in talking, "Well, it's a little different for everybody. For example, I myself women in their 20s who want me-"

"Rrrgh," Issei growls as he reaches for Kiba again.

"-to cook and/or clean around the house for them and NOTHING ELSE," Kiba added quickly, which made Issei grumble and sit back down. The blonde sighed in relief. He didn't want Issei causing another scene, nor did he want to be shaken violently again.

Just as Kiba was about to speak again, the front door to the restaurant opened up and in came four high school students. Although, their uniforms are different than the ones from Kuoh Academy, as their uniforms are navy blue. The students themselves looked like delinquents. The leader had bright orange hair in a pompadour style. He looked around and spotted Issei and Kiba.

"Yo! Hyoudou!" The leader said as the group approached the boys' table.

The two teens looked up to see the guy hovering over them. 'Great. Delinquents,' Kiba thought in mild annoyance. The last thing he needed was interference by a bunch of jerks with their heads up their asses.

Issei, however, greeted the leader with a smile. "Hey Hoshi. How you been?"

Kiba looked surprised, "You know these guys?"

"Huh?" Issei looked over at Kiba, "Oh yeah. We were classmates back in junior high."

A bead of sweat dropped down the side of Kiba's head. 'Junior high? What kind of school did he go to?'

"Anyways, what do you guys want?" Issei stood up while smirking at the guys, it almost looked like he was ready to fight.

"You know exactly what we want, Hyoudou. Three months ago, you messed us up pretty good. And now, the boys and I want a little payback. So how about you finish up your date with your boyfriend and we step outside for a little chat, alright?" Hoshi demanded.

"Uhh excuse me-" Kiba was about to say, but was shortly cut off by Issei.

"Aww, what's wrong baby? You jealous?" Issei said in a mocking manner which irritated Hoshi to no end. "What'd you say, you prick!?"

"It's ok, cupcake. I still have room for you in my heart. After all, no one can take a fisting like you can," Issei brought his right hand to Hoshi's cheek, which the delinquent was quick to grab. "You bastard, you wanna die!?" Hoshi tightened his grip on Issei, which didn't seem to phase the brunette.

Issei quickly yanked his wrist out of Hoshi's grip. "Maybe. We should step outside and find out. Got a place in mind, sugar?"

"Ok. You're stopping that shit right now," Hoshi growled.

"What's wrong? You used to love it when I talked dirty to you. Or am I not good enough for you now that you got your fuck-buddies back there?" This time, the guys behind Hoshi started to growl in anger.

"So...we gonna step outside or what?" Issei smirked.

"Tch. Fine," Hoshi said while heading out and Issei began to follow.

Kiba began to get up, "Issei wait-"

The brunette looked back at the blonde, "Later, man. I'll see you at school tomorrow," Issei said while giving a quick wave.

Kiba could only stand there, stunned for a moment at what just occurred. Sure, he heard about Issei getting into fights in the past, but what shocked him was his attitude. 'It almost seemed like the idea of fighting excited him.'

 **...**

On the back streets of Kuoh, Issei was walking with Hoshi's small gang that were surrounding him. Eventually, they stopped when they felt that no one was around. The gang then took a few steps back from Issei.

"So, we're doing this here?" Issei asks while taking off his jacket. He looks around to see the guys laughing lightly. "Something funny?" Issei's question was answered when the guys pulled out weapons. Hoshi pulled a bike chain while the other three pull out a bat, a bokken, and a pair of brass knuckles respectively.

"Heh. We can't slack off when we're fighting you." Hoshi smirked.

"So you brought in toys? Nice. So how about we make this quick?" Issei got into a brawling stance. "I heard about this new game from a buddy of mine. I don't know, something about banging nuns? Thought I'd check it out."

Hoshi started chuckling, "You ain't known as the Perverted Beast for nothing."

'This is perfect,' Issei thought with a grin. 'I can use these pricks for my training.'

 **["Just keep in mind that there's a world of difference between supernatural beings and petty thugs."]** Ddraig chimed in.

'There's also a world of difference between petty thugs and sandbags,' Issei countered. The brunette's smile grew wider. "Let's rock!"

 **End**


	7. Ch 7: Taste of Power

**Highschool DxD: Road of the Dragon King**

Ch. 7: Taste of Power

 **...**

Issei threw the first punch at the closest guy, the one with the brass knuckles. However, Issei couldn't connect the punch due to Hoshi hitting the brunette in the back of the head with the bike chain.

"Ah!" Issei shouted as the back of his head started to bleed. Unfortunately, the teen took a brass-knuckled right cross to the face, causing him to stagger.

"Die, Hyoudou!" The thug with the bat shouted while raising said bat up in the air. He swung it down at Issei, who managed to block it with his right arm though it caused some pain.

'Shit! That nearly made my arm go numb,' Issei grunted while thrusting his right leg into the guy's stomach. Issei turns around to see the delinquent with the bokken swing the weapon at Issei's head. However, Issei quickly countered with an elbow to the nose which he quickly followed up with a right hook to the jaw.

The moment the guy hits the ground, Hoshi swings his bike chain at Issei once more. However, Issei quickly catches the chain. "Sorry babe, chains only do so much for me," Issei quipped, causing Hoshi's eyebrow to twitch violently. Using this moment of distraction, Issei yanked the chain out of Hoshi's hand.

The thug with the bat sneaks up behind Issei and swings the metal bat at the brunette's ribs. Blood spurts out of Issei's mouth, but he grits his teeth and quickly turns around. "Alright, fucker. I'm done with your shit!" The perverted teen threw a left cross at the thug's nose. He then threw four hooks, alternating between his left and right fists, at the delinquent's stomach before ending the small combo with a left uppercut to the jaw. This sent the guy flying up in the air for a brief moment before hitting the ground. Issei's vision was growing hazy. 'I need to finish this quick,' he thought.

Hoshi suddenly grabs Issei from behind, locking his arms. "Hehehe. Whatcha gonna do now, Hyoudou?" He says as the thug with the brass knuckles approaches the two.

"Hey Hoshi, remember your safe word?" Issei smirks at the easily agitated thug.

"Fuck you!" Hoshi shouts as Issei hangs his head down.

"Wrong answer!" Issei suddenly swings his head back, hitting Hoshi's nose. Issei then grabs the thug's orange hair and throws him over the shoulder. Hoshi's body then collides with the remaining thug and the two drop to the ground.

Hoshi slowly sits up with a pained grunt. "You bastard. I'm gonna kill you," he said angrily. However, his expression changed as he looks at Issei.

Issei had a malicious smile on his face, his eyes were hidden behind his bangs, and the blood all over his face gave him the air of a monster. "W-what...What the fuck are you?" Hoshi asked quietly.

"Oh you know, just some perverted beast," was all Issei said before suddenly swinging his right foot at Hoshi's head, knocking the delinquent unconscious.

Issei stepped backward and leaned up against a wall. The teen let out a sigh while putting his right hand on his forehead. "Geez...How pathetic," The boy smiled bitterly before grabbing his jacket and walking away. 'Now...I should probably look for Yuuma.'

 **["I think you should get some rest, Kid."]** Ddraig suggested, **["You took a hell of a beating back there. I'm surprised you're still walking."]**

'Dude, I'm fine.' However, Issei stumbled slightly. He slammed his hand on the wall and leans on it for support. 'Goddammit...I hate it when you're right. Besides, I don't think I should approach her with all this blood on my face. It'd probably scare her.'

Issei then looked up to see the sun setting in the distance, smiling as his mind flashes back to the date with Yuuma.

 **['Kid...I fear that the adoration you have for this woman is turning into an obsession.']** Ddraig thought, concerned about the state of the boy's mind.

 **...**

Kiba was heading to the old schoolhouse after talking with Issei, sighing as he wondered what the brunette was up to after he left with those guys. 'I wonder if he's ok?' He thought, 'The President would probably kill me if Issei ends up dead. Then again, I think he'll be fine.'

The blonde prince stopped in his tracks when he saw three girls approach him. He could clearly hear one of them say "Ah. It's Kiba!"

Kiba gave them a smile and a wave. "Hi. How are you ladies, today?" The girls looked at him with blushes on their faces.

"W-we're fine," the girl in front spoke. "A-actually, we were wondering if you'd like to hang out with us today?"

"Yeah. Maybe do some karaoke?"

"Please? We'd love it if you'd come with us."

The girls spoke one after another rather quickly. Kiba put his hands up while keeping that charming smile on his face. "Ladies, ladies. I'd really love to go, but I got club activities and it's really important that I get there."

"Awww," all three girls said, disappointed that they don't get their chance with the Kuoh Prince.

"Maybe some other time, ok?" The blonde boy said, trying to be nice while walking past them. "Bye girls. I'll see you at school tomorrow."

"Kay!"

"Later, handsome!"

"Bye!"

Kiba and the three girls went their separate ways as the blonde boy continued to walk to the old schoolhouse. Once he was a considerable distance away from them, Kiba let out a sigh. 'Honestly, I feel so bad when I turn down girls like that sometimes. But I guess it can't be helped.'

Kiba eventually reached his destination and started to head to the club room. He opens the door and gives a quick greeting to everyone.

"Well, Kiba? How did it go?" Rias asked with a smile on her face.

 **...**

Issei was currently heading home, limping slightly as his head, right arm, and ribs were in a great amount of pain. Well, at least he was trying to go home. He actually ended up lost due to wandering around in the back streets. "Well shit. This is usually the part when more of those dumbass thugs show up whenever I wander back here. I guess this is a good day," the boy talked to himself while chuckling.

"GAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

Issei became frozen stiff when he heard that scream. 'What the hell was that?' He thought while frantically looking for the source of that scream. Against his better judgment, he ran towards where he think the sound came from.

Eventually, he stopped when he came across a street where there was a massive figure before him.

The figure had a large tail, resembling something of a snake. However, the upper-body looked like it was in the shape of a human, albeit incredibly bulky. It was hunched over and judging by the disgusting crunching sounds, it appeared to be eating. Issei's eyes widened as the creature started to rise.

 **["Kid, you need to get out of there! Right now! With injuries like that, your chances of survival are incredibly low!"]** Ddraig warned Issei. However, the brunette didn't move immediately. He was too scared to move.

The creature turned towards Issei's direction slowly. The boy immediately hid behind the corner of a building so as to hopefully not be noticed.

The creature moved slowly, its massive tail slithering on the ground. Soon, the monster was illuminated by a single light from a street post. Its upper-body was gray and heavily muscular, its hair was long and black, its face so white and featureless that it could have been confused for a mask, the eyes were narrow and black as the void, and the mouth stained with blood.

The creature smiled widely, revealing that its teeth were also stained with blood. **"That was delicious,"** the monster finally spoke, its voice was garbled and distorted, almost as if it was pitch-shifted to a degree. **"But I need mooooore..."** It moved toward Issei's direction.

Issei himself was shaking and couldn't bring himself to move. 'Dammit! What the hell is wrong with me!?' The brunette berated himself. 'I fought off that stupid snail thing, AND that Fallen Angel. So, why the fuck should this be any different?'

The monster stopped as it sniffed the air. **"I smell bloooood,"** the creature said with a wide grin as it looked around. Issei froze the moment he said that. He knew that the monster was talking about Issei's blood, especially considering that his face was still bloody from the earlier fight.

'Come on, dammit! Move! I'm injured enough as is! I can't fight that thing right now! I need to...I need to-'

Unfortunately, a massive hand suddenly slammed against the building that Issei was hiding behind. The monster suddenly peeked its featureless face around the corner, its pupilless eyes widened. **"Found yooooouuuuuu!"** The monster said excitedly.

Issei stumbled before falling down on his butt. 'Holy shit. I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die!' The creature's large hand moved down toward Issei, but Issei recovered quickly and stumbled to his feet to dodge the hand that slammed down on the ground. Issei kept running despite the pain while the monster chased after him.

The brunette tried to desperately lose the monster by turning corners. 'Come on, dude! Just get the fuck out of here!' Issei eventually hid behind another corner while breathing heavily. He tried to take it easy due to his injuries.

 **"KEHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!"** The snake monster found Issei once more and landed in front of him. Issei backed away shakily. However, he eventually stopped himself from moving backward. 'Goddammit...you're so pathetic. Come on, Issei,' the brunette berated himself once more while gritting his teeth. 'Nut the fuck up!' He growled in his head while holding up his left hand in the air.

"Boosted Gear!" Issei shouted as the gauntlet appeared on his arm while a **["BOOST!"]** was announced. The creature stopped as it looked at Issei. **"Oh? A Sacred Gear? Sorry, but I'm not a big fan of playing with my food."**

"Tough shit, asshole! I'm not gonna be your dinner tonight!" Issei shouted as he got into a brawling stance.

 **...**

"...I see," Rias said while frowning.

She was just told by Kiba about the day that he spent with the brunette. While Rias was slightly happy that Issei doesn't seem completely hostile towards the Devils, her frown came about when Kiba mentioned that the perverted teen clearly had no interest. Then there was that thing with the thugs. "So, after he followed the delinquents, you came back here?" Rias asked.

"Yes. That's right," Kiba reaffirmed everything he just told his master. He saw Rias with a slightly frustrated expression. "Maybe we can...No no no..." he heard Rias mumble. This continued for a solid two minutes.

"Wait, that's it!" Rias suddenly stood up, startling everyone. "Maybe we could offer him join the club."

"Will that work, President?" Kiba asked, "I mean, he's shown no clear interest in joining us so-"

"But that's just it, Yuuto," Rias cut off her servant, "He doesn't want to become a Devil. So, how about he joins us as merely a member of the Occult Research Club? That way, he gets to stay human and we have a new ally on our side." The servants looked at one another as their master suggested this.

"It could work," Koneko chimed in.

"That's not a bad idea. Ufufu," Akeno smiled at her best friend.

"Very well, then. Yuuto, tomorrow I want you to talk to Issei about joining the Occult Research Club."

"Yes, Ma'am!"

 **...**

"Guha!" Issei spurts out blood as his back hits the side of a building hard. He drops to the ground as he glares angrily at the source of the damage.

The snake monster back-handed Issei the moment the brunette summoned his Sacred Gear. Issei stands up slowly as another **["BOOST!"]** is heard from the gauntlet. The mask-faced creature clenched his fist and began to swing it down at Issei. Issei clenched his left fist and swung it at the Stray's own.

 **["BOOST!"]** The two fists collided against one another. Unfortunately, the Devil had more power on his side and crushed Issei with his fist, the boy bouncing off of the ground from the devastating impact. Issei tumbled across the ground before catching himself by slamming his left fist into the ground, causing him to skid across for a brief moment. 'God...dammit.'

The Stray looked at him with annoyance, **"Alright, brat. I'd rather you die quickly so I can enjoy my meal."**

"I...told you already. I'm not...your fucking dinner," Issei said weakly. **["BOOST!"]**

 **"Feh. How annoying. How about I make you nice and tender,"** The Stray stuck out its tongue and stretched it out towards Issei. 'Because of course, the fucker can stretch his tongue,' Issei thought in annoyance as he tried to move out of the tongue's reach. Unfortunately, due to both the speed of the tongue and his injuries, Issei's leg got caught by the tongue as he's suddenly flung up in the air. Issei lets out screams of pain as he's slammed into the ground and some of the buildings, the glass from the windows cutting him slightly. The tongue starts to retract as Issei's brought closer to the snake Devil.

 **["BOOST!"] "Kehahahaha! You'll fill me up nice and good, boy,"** the Stray said excitedly as Issei was just below the creature's jaw.

'Now!' Issei thought before swinging his left fist right into the snake's chin, forcing his mouth shut from the impact. **"GYAAAAAH! My tongue! You made me bite my fucking tongue you asshole!"**

"Che. That's what you get, prick," Issei said quietly as he notices that a part of the Stray's tongue is dangling. 'The guy's weakness is the fact that he's lazy. He's made that perfectly clear not just by the way he talks, but his actions, too. If he put enough power into any of his attacks, I would've been killed instantly. And now that I've got rid of his best weapon...' Issei tried to charge forward after getting another boost, but he staggered as the pain in his body is too great. 'Oh fuck off! You can't be serious right now!'

The Stray noticed the moment of hesitation and took advantage of it by trying to crush Issei with his tail. Luckily for the brunette, he barely managed to roll to the left before the tail swung down like a guillotine. Issei didn't have any time to gain any footing as the Devil's fist came flying towards the boy. He desperately tried to cross his arms over his in a vain attempt to block it, but the fist slammed into the boy's body. Issei was then launched into the air via uppercut.

Issei hit the concrete hard after flying several feet away from the creature. 'I...can't move,' Issei thought weakly. 'Everything...hurts...Am I...gonna die?' Issei tried to get up, but his body is clearly failing him. **["You're body has reached its limit. I'm sorry."]** Ddraig spoke sadly.

'Well...shit. I really am weak, huh?' Issei turned his head to the right, only for his eyes widen in horror.

What he saw were the three girls that Kiba talked to earlier on their way home from karaoke. All three of them laughing, ignorant of the situation and the perverted boy severely injured on the floor.

'I know those girls. They go to my school,' Issei reached his hand out to them. 'Get out of here...Go away!' Issei wanted to speak. He wanted to say something. Anything! But the best the boy could muster was a few weak grunts that would go unnoticed by anyone. It didn't help that his body was hidden in the shadows so the girls couldn't see him.

To make matters worse, the snake monster was getting closer. **"Now, time to get my nutrients,"** the thing said quietly. However, he stopped when he heard giggling. Its eyes grew big for a moment as it looked over in curiosity. He saw the girls getting closer and closer. **"On the other hand...I could skip straight to dessert."**

The snake's eyes widened and turned the corner, charging at the unsuspecting the girls. 'No! Stop!' Issei was panicking. 'Don't go after them! I'm your meal, dammit! Not them!'

Issei's thoughts stopped when he heard them scream. Not only was the Stray's body obstructing the view, but the boy's vision was getting more and more blurry. However, it was painfully clear what was going on. The Stray Devil took a huge bite out of each of the girls, mutilating their bodies. Soon, all that was left was a pile of entrails in a puddle of blood.

 **"KEHAHAHAHAHAAAA! How filling! That was delicious!"** The Stray said happily.

 **["BOOST!"]**

Issei laid there silently for a brief moment.

 **["BOOST!"]**

His mind briefly thought back to the times when he saw those girls in school. Sure, most of the time they looked at him in disgust or chased after them. However, he would also think back to when they were smiling. Whether it had anything to do with him, it didn't matter. All that mattered was the girls seemed there cutest when they were happy. It doesn't matter if it sounded lame, cheesy, stupid, or even creepy, something about seeing a girl smile always brightened up the boy's day. That's the kind of smile that he wished his harem would have.

 **["BOOST!"]**

Issei began to slowly get up.

 **["BOOST!"]**

But now, he can't see them smile. He can no longer see them because they're dead...

 **["BOOST!"]**

Those girls are dead...because he was weak...

 **["BOOST!"]**

Because he couldn't fight a monster by himself...Because he wasted his time fighting some stupid thugs...

 **["BOOST!"]**

He can't see their cute smiles anymore...because of that monster.

...

"GRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Issei charged full speed ahead at the Stray Devil, no longer caring about the pain. He jumped up in the air, reeling his left fist back.

 **"Hn?"** The Stray Devil, distracted by his other meal for a moment, turned to look at Issei up in the air. **"So you're still alive? Great! Now I get to really spoil myse-"** the Stray Devil's words were cut off by a powerful punch to the face. Issei could've sworn that for the briefest of moments, he saw a small light extend out of his fist. **'Im-impossible! H-he wasn't this strong! He wasn't this strong before!'**

The snake monster's body crashed into the building while Issei landed on his feet. There was blood all over the boy's body. **["Kid! This is dangerous! If you push yourself any further, you'll die!"]** Ddraig warned.

'I don't care anymore,' Issei thought quietly, shocking the dragon.

'I don't care if I destroy my body. I don't care if I die in the process...All that matters is-'

"I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!" Issei roared from the top of his lungs.

 **["EXPLOSION!"]**

 **...**

After the discussion they had, the ORC began working on their contracts. After Koneko returned from hers, she saw Akeno talking to Rias.

"I've just gotten a message from the archduke, there's a Stray Devil causing havoc in the neighborhood," Akeno informed her friend with a serious expression on her face.

"I see..." Rias then looked at her other two servants. "Everyone! Let's get moving! We have another Stray running about thinking that they can cause trouble in my territory! Let's take it down!"

"Yes, ma'am!" All her servants said.

 **...**

Red energy poured out of Issei's body. The energy was flowing like a calm river yet aggressive as a typhoon. The Stray Devil looked scared for the first time since the battle started, yet he slammed his tail down and charged at the brunette.

Issei himself also charged forward at the snake, reeling his left fist back as the Stray also pulled his fist back. The two fists collide against one another once more. However, the Stray could feel himself being pushed back. In a surprising move, Issei pulled back his right fist and swings it at the Stray's hand, knocking it away.

The brunette growls in pain as he could feel his right hand practically shatter from the impact. However, it didn't matter to him anymore. He just wanted to win by any means possible.

'For the briefest moment...I saw it...I saw something shoot out of my hand,' Issei thought back to when he punched the Devil in the face. He remembered seeing a light extend slightly, but it didn't go very far. 'Is that from the energy that shot out of me? Maybe...Maybe I can shoot it farther. I just need to focus...' Issei then concentrated all the energy into his left hand as his aura surged once more.

 **"You bastard! I'll kill you! I'LL KILL YOU! GYAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"** The Stray Devil charged at Issei, mouth wide open.

The brunette closed his eyes as he continued to concentrate. 'Visualization is key here. I just need to visualize a massive beam of light shooting out of my hand...' he could feel all his energy focus into his hand. He felt something there! He opened his eyes to see the Stray Devil closing in on him and a small ball of light in his hand. 'What!? Only this much? No...it doesn't matter now.'

 **"DIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!"** The snake brought his body down so that he was eye-level with Issei.

'I just need to pour everything I got into this one shot!' Issei pulled his left fist back as the little ball was still floating in the air. 'Split this fucker's skull open!'

"Dragon...!" Issei launched his fist at the ball of energy, hitting it with all his weight poured behind it.

"SHOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTT!" The moment his fist collided with the ball, the energy was launched at the Stray, turning into a massive red beam.

"RRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" The brunette continued to shout with all his might as the blast hits the Devil right in the face. The wave of energy practically went through the snake's whole body, turning it into ash as the monster lets out a dying scream.

Issei stood there, breathing heavily with his fist stretched out. "Gotcha...bitch..." Issei grinned as he was victorious.

 **...**

A few minutes prior, Rias and her peerage arrived in the neighborhood.

"Now. Where could he be?" Rias asked as they search for the Stray Devil.

Koneko started to sniff the air and glared intensely. "I smell blood," the white-haired loli points in the direction where Issei was fighting.

"Let's get moving," Rias said as they all start to head toward that direction.

However, all of them stopped dead in their tracks when the saw a massive beam fly out across the sky. They had no idea what it was. What they did know was that they needed to get there and fast. They all ran as fast as they could toward the source of the blast.

Soon, they reach their destination and all of them are shocked at what they see.

"Issei?" Rias asked quietly.

They bare witness to the brunette standing still with his arm stretched out. In front of the brunette is what appears to be a severed tail and some of the buildings caught on fire.

Kiba was the first to react as he ran toward the boy. "Issei!" However, the perverted teen didn't respond. Upon closer inspection, Kiba could see the light fade from his eyes as the brunette begins to collapse. The blonde immediately caught him and checked for a pulse, only to feel relieved that he was still alive.

"Issei!" Rias shouted as the other girls approached him.

"It's ok. He's only unconscious," Kiba reassured him. "But he's injured pretty badly. We need to get him to the clubroom as soon as possible. Still, though," he looked at the smoldering tail, assuming that was originally the Devil they were meant to hunt down, "I can't believe that he defeated a Stray all by himself."

"I'll take him," Rias said as she grabbed a hold of Issei. His face falling down into her chest. She looked down at him with a smile. 'You're an interesting one...Issei.'

 **End**


	8. Ch 8: New Addition

**Highschool DxD: Road of the Dragon King**

Ch. 8: New Addition

 **...**

Pain...

That was all Issei could feel right now.

"Ohh...ffffffffuuuuuuck," the boy groaned while gradually opening his eyes. As soon as Issei's vision clears up, he sees that he's back in his bedroom. 'How...?'

Issei sat up and stretched slightly. However, this caused him to let out a small grunt of pain. He also felt something on his head, 'What the…?' Issei touched the top of his head and it felt like a bandage was wrapped around it. Looking down, he saw that his body was completely covered in bandages save for his left arm. "Great. Mom and Dad are probably freaking out right now. Wait a minute...How did I even end up like this? Why am I-" the Boosted Gear wielder cut himself off when he heard a faint groan. 'What the hell?' The brunette looked around in confusion. 'That wasn't me. In fact, it sounded a little...feminine.' Issei slowly turned to his right and saw something that will forever be burned into his memory for all eternity.

What he saw was a voluptuous girl with hair as red as blood sleeping next to him. Her white, creamy skin exposed for all to see. 'R-R-R-Rias!? Rias freaking Gremory!? Naked!? In my bed!? What? How? Why? What!?...What the fuck!?' Issei's jaw dropped, his eyes widened, and his nose began to spurt blood as he continues to stare disbelievingly at such a magnificent image. He was so engrossed in the naked beauty and trying to comprehend why said beauty was here, that he didn't notice that Rias was waking up.

"Hnnn..." Rias opened her eyes as she sat up, letting out a cute yawn. She looked over to Issei, who was still gawking at her. "Good morning. Did you sleep well?"

'Oh no, I slept just fine despite being bandaged up. Also, why are you naked in my bed!? Oh God, did we do anything? Wait, would she fuck a guy who was injured? Why would she fuck an injured man!? Is that her fetish!? Does she get off on riding the dicks of almost dead guys!?' Issei's thoughts were running rampant. However, the only sound he could produce from his mouth was "Uhhhhhhhh..."

Rias tilted her head to the left slightly, "Are you alright?"

'Oh, what magnificent beauty! Tis' a lovely set of titties you have, my fair maiden! Oh, how I wish I could grab such magnificent globes! To be able to shove my face inside the valley of Heaven and place my mouth on those succulent nipples! Oh, how wondrous that would be!' "Uuuuuuhhhhhhhhhh..."

 **["Oh Christ, he's broken. Hey, Kid? Kid!"]**

Issei snapped out of his stupor and quickly looked up at Rias's face while a blush was growing on his own. "Oh yes. You're fine. Shit! I meant sexy! No! I'm sexy. Fucking!...*sigh*...I'm...I'm fine

Rias giggled in slight amusement at Issei stumbling over his words. "Well, as long as you're feeling better." The heiress stood and walked over to a small pile of clothes.

"S-so uhhh..." Issei trailed off as Rias turned around and bent over to pick up her underwear. 'Nice ass. Holy shit...My dear. To be exposing yourse-'

 **["Kid! Focus!"]**

'Oh shit, right right right...' Issei looked away as Rias was putting on her panties. "Hey. Rias?"

"I take it you have some questions for me?" Rias picked up her bra while talking to Issei.

"Actually, yes," Issei looked over at Rias briefly before turning his gaze away, blush still apparent. "First off, why are you here?"

"Simple. I brought you here. I was thinking about bringing you to club room initially, but I figured that your parents were worried sick about you. So, I decided to bring you here instead."

"And not the hospital because...?"

"Well, I couldn't use magic at a hospital."

"Magic?"

"Yes. To heal you. Although, I ended up running low on reserve, so I had to resort to first-aid treatment. I do apologize for that." Rias started to button up her shirt.

'So she brought me here after my fight with that Devil? Wait, how did she even find me?'

Rias finished dressing up and looked over to Issei. "You're still not dressed? We're gonna be late for school."

"Huh? Oh right." Issei quickly got dressed albeit with slight difficulty due to his injuries.

 **...**

As the two head to school, Issei thought back to how weird his parents were acting. When the two came downstairs and had breakfast with the Issei's parents, they talked to Rias as if she was apart of the family. They weren't even freaking about the fact that their son was covered in bandages. 'What the hell? They didn't even ask any questions.'

As if reading Issei's mind, Rias turns to the boy. "Oh. Don't worry about your parents. I've altered their memories slightly."

"Oh...kay?" 'What the actual fuck? You can do that!?'

Issei then decided to ask the question that's been bothering him since he first woke up, "Hey, Rias? How did you find me?"

"Oh. We just happened to come across you, that's all."

"We? You mean you and your servants?"

"Yes."

'What the hell would they be doing wandering around the neighborhood?' As Issei pondered on this, the two walk past the school gate. A great number of students stopped dead in their tracks as they witness the pervert walking with their idol.

"You can't be serious right now."

"Him!? With her!?"

"Did he get into another fight?"

"Who cares? Those two can't be together!"

"That's right! She shouldn't be anywhere near that guy!"

"Get away from him! You'll get corrupted!"

Issei could only sigh at the hazing from both boys and girls alike. 'Seriously, this shit gets old.'

 **["You do realize that this is mostly your fault, right?"]**

'Yeah yeah.'

"Issei?"

"Huh? Oh. Yeah."

"I want you to come to the club room after classes today, is that alright?"

"...My answer hasn't changed since then."

Rias frowned at Issei's response. "I see...Well, this is regarding a different matter, so I'd appreciate it if you'd come, ok?"

"*sigh* Yeah. Sure. I'll come," Issei said dismissively.

Rias gave him a small smile, "Good. I'll send someone to fetch you after school." The Gremory heiress then walked into the building, leaving Issei behind.

'Tch. Fetch me? I'm not a dog,' the brunette thought in annoyance as he continued walking. Before Issei could head to class, however, he was stopped by the sound of two familiar voices of rage and jealousy.

"YOU BASTARD!" Matsuda and Motohama suddenly swung their fists at Issei, who was quick to dodge their attack by stepping to the right. The two perverts put too much forward momentum to their strike and ended up tumbling forward, slamming face first into the wall.

"Oh. Hey guys."

The Perverted Duo suddenly stood up, the seething anger painfully evident on their faces. "Spill it! Right now!" Matsuda shouted.

"Spill what?"

"Don't play dumb, fuckface!" Motohama pointed an accusing finger at Issei. "Why were you walking to school with the magnificent babe known as Rias freakin' Gremory!?"

"Yeah man! The fuck did you do!?"

Issei sighed at the two. "You DO know that I'm covered in bandages, right? Do you think that she would do anything to me when I'm injured?"

"It could be her fetish!" Matsuda quickly stated.

"Yeah, man! She might get off on riding the cocks of injured men!"

'Oh my God, that sounds so stupid when you say it out loud,' Issei thought while sighing in annoyance. "Look, we didn't do anything."

"Liar!"

"Don't fuck with us, man!"

"I'm not-"

"Don't lie, asshole!"

"We aren't going anywhere until you spill the beans!"

Issei's eyebrow was twitching. He was getting ready to punch these two right in their faces. "Ok you know wha-" Issei, however, stopped himself as he had a thought, a very devious thought. "Heh heh heh heh heh."

The two perverts were caught off guard by Issei's chuckling. "Um..Why are you laughing?" Matsuda asked.

"Yeah, man. You're scaring me."

"Yo. Shitstains," Issei suddenly pointed at the boys as he had an evil grin. "Have you two seen...real tits?"

The duo's jaws dropped in shock as they heard this. Issei walked passed them, the smug grin never fading from his face.

"That..." Motohama started.

"Bastard..." Matsuda finished.

"Heh heh heh heh HA HA HA HA HAAA!"

 **...**

Later in the day, Issei sat at his desk with a very bored expression on his face while looking out the window. 'Ok, this person trying to "fetch" me needs to hurry their ass up,' Issei thought in annoyance. His attention was turned toward the classroom entrance as he heard girls screaming.

"Kyaa! It's Kiba!"

"Kiba!"

"Kyaaa!"

Kiba walked into the classroom with a charming smile on his while greeting the girls with a small wave. Issei could only groan in annoyance. 'Geez. The only way they could treat him more like a rockstar is if they start ripping off their tops in front of him. Hell, I think the only reason that that doesn't happen is because we're at school. What is he even doing here, anyway?'

"Sorry, sorry. I came here because I was looking for someone," Kiba apologized as he looked around.

"Looking for someone?"

"Is it me!?"

"Kiba, baby I'm right here!"

The girls continued to squeal in joy while practically begging for his attention. Kiba looked around and saw Issei sitting by himself. The two made eye contact as Issei had a sudden realization, 'Oh Jesus Christ, he's the fetcher.' The blonde approached the brunette, his smile never fading even as the brunette facepalmed.

"Excuse me, Issei?" The girls squealed in horror at this revelation.

"Nooo!"

"Why is our darling Prince talking to that pervert!?"

"Get away from him or you'll catch his perverted disease!"

"What? You wanna take me out to lunch again?" Issei asked while glaring at Kiba. Although in hindsight, this was probably not the wisest thing to say.

"What!?"

"They ate together!?"

"Kiba and Issei have been together behind our backs!? No!"

"You mean Issei and Kiba?"

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah. I think Issei would be on top. I mean, he's so perverted."

"No! I refuse to believe that Kiba would be on the bottom!"

The girls continued to argue about who's the dom and who's the sub, much to Kiba's surprise and Issei's annoyance. The brunette quickly stood up and grabbed Kiba's wrist. "Clubroom. Now."

"See? Issei's so assertive."

"Wha-that doesn't count!"

"Yeah. Kiba came up to him first!"

"So? Issei's the one who took the initiative!"

"Yeah, she has a point. Besides, Kiba seems to be the gentle type. So, he would probably be the one to take it from-"

"Don't you dare talk about our Kiba like that!"

As the girls argued some more, Issei practically dragged Kiba out the door. "Let's go!" Issei growled as they left the classroom.

On the way to the clubroom, Kiba turned to Issei and examines his injuries. "So, what happened to you?"

"We just had a group of girls arguing who's the bitch between us, I am NOT in the mood to talk to you right now."

"Alright alright. Geez," a bead of sweat dropped down the side of Kiba's head.

The two walk in silence as they pass a couple of students whispering to each other.

"No way. She's gone missing?"

"Yeah. I tried calling her, but it said the number was disconnected."

"Did you try calling her friends? They always hang out together."

"I did. Both of their numbers are disconnected, too."

Issei stopped dead in his tracks as he heard the barely audible conversation, his eyes widened. 'Are they talking about-' his mind flashed back to the Devil eating those three girls. He covered his mouth as if he was about to throw up. This action did not go unnoticed by Kiba.

"Hey. You ok?" Kiba approached Issei while putting a hand on his shoulder. Issei knocked the hand away, shocking the blonde prince.

"I'm...I'm ok," Issei said quietly while breathing heavily.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Issei. If something is-"

"Kiba. I told you, I'm fine!" Issei shot back a little angrily.

Kiba stepped back while putting his hands up. "Ok...Ok," Kiba kept moving forward while Issei trailed behind the blonde prince.

Issei began to subconsciously grit his teeth and clench his teeth. 'I...couldn't do a thing for them...I couldn't save them...'

"Issei?"

"I'm fine," Issei said quietly. Kiba stood there for a moment before walking ahead. The brunette trailed behind, the thought of those girls dying before his eyes never left his mind on the rest of the way.

 **...**

Issei and Kiba made it to the club room, both of them greeted by Akeno. "Welcome," she gave a bow with a cheerful smile on her face. When she rose back up, Issei noticed her breasts bouncing.

'Ohhhh fuck yes,' Issei thought in awe as he stared at her massive chest.

After about a minute of silence as Issei stared at her boobs, Akeno spoke up, "Hm? Is something wrong?" Akeno tilted her head.

Issei's face flushed in embarrassment as he suddenly looked up at her face, "Oh uh ahhh-Nothing! I saw no bouncy-I mean...No. Everything's fine," Issei quickly composed himself, though he still had a tint of red on his cheeks.

Akeno giggled while bringing her hand up to her cheek. "Really now? So, nothing caught your eye?" She crossed her arms just below her chest, pushing her breasts up slightly.

"Uh-uh ummm..." Issei looked around before he noticed the sound of a shower running. 'A shower? Here!? Who could-' he saw Kiba sitting down next to Koneko, 'Ok….So that could only leave...' he could swear that he could see a silhouette of a girl with large breasts. 'Rias!' Issei thought gleefully while steam shot out of his nose.

"Such a lecherous face," Koneko mumbled as she stared at Issei in annoyance.

Issei looked at Koneko awkwardly. 'Really? I have a lecherous face?'

 **["Yes."]**

Issei sighed as he walked over to the couch and sit across from Kiba and Koneko. Akeno went over to the shower while carrying a pile of clothes and a towel. "So, what do you guys want this time?" Issei asked, "I already told you that I have no interest in becoming a servant."

"And while that is disappointing," Rias said as she stepped out from the shower with a towel wrapped around her, "I actually brought you here for a different reason."

"Annnd that would be….?" Issei looked Rias up and down as the towel did nothing to hide her excellent figure. 'Oh. M'lady! What delicious curves-'

 **["Ah ah ah! No! You're not starting that shit again!"]** Ddraig cut off the brunette's thoughts.

'Alright alright. Geez,' Issei leaned back while closing his eyes. "So, what do you want this time?"

"I wanted you to come here so I can offer you a chance to join our club," Rias said with a smile.

"I thought I told you that I-wait…...club?" Issei suddenly opened his eyes and slowly looked over to Rias with a confused expression donning his face.

"Yes. We'd like for you to join the Occult Research Club."

Issei was at a loss for words right now as he tried to process this. He actually recalled wanting to join the club and even applied for it last year, but-

"Didn't you guys outright reject my offer the last time I tried to sign up?"

Rias frowned slightly, "We did. However, circumstances have changed since then, plus we could use a few members."

Issei raised an eyebrow, "Circumstances? What, you mean the fact that I know you're Devils?"

"Yes."

Issei sat quietly, looking down as he tried to think about this whole situation. "What if I say no?"

'I figured as much,' Rias thought before she gains a….devilish smile. "Well, I guess you'd have to talk to the Student Council president about it."

Issei visibly stiffened at that. He remembered the few times that he met with the head of the Student Council, and let's just say that the visits weren't pleasant. Especially considering his habits of hanging out with the Perverted Duo while they were peeking on girls along with the fights that he gets into.

"W-we don't have to go that far, man," Issei began to sweat bullets.

"I don't know~," Rias practically sang out, much to Issei's mix of fear and irritation. He looked around at the others. He saw Koneko instantly look away from him, Akeno covering her mouth to keep herself from laughing, and Kiba giving him a sympathetic smile.

"Ufufu. President, we shouldn't be trying to scare him into joining us," Akeno criticized her best friend, though her face still held amusement. "Issei."

"Oh uhh yes?" Issei suddenly looked at Akeno as she addressed him.

Akeno smirked as she walked up to Issei and sat down right next to him. She inched closer to him, their bodies practically touching each other. 'Oh wow,' Issei joyously thought.

Akeno then leaned her face closer to his, causing Issei's heart to skip a beat and his face to turn redder and redder. "I just thought that I'd let you know about all the... _benefits_...to joining our club," the raven-haired beauty practically breathed in his ear, causing Issei's face to flush.

"B-benefits? L-l-like what?" The flustered boy stuttered out.

Akeno giggled as she stood up. "Well, for starters you get a chance to cut classes for club activities."

Akeno walked behind Rias and suddenly grabbed her towel. "Also…" Akeno smiled sadistically.

"A-A-Akeno!?" Rias stuttered as she realized what her Queen was about to do.

Koneko turned to Issei and pre-emptively glared at him while Kiba closed his eyes tightly. Without any warning, Akeno suddenly yanked off Rias's towel, exposing her body to everyone in the club. Issei's nose immediately shoot out blood, 'A-amazing!'

"Ufufu. Rias always likes to take showers at the club. So, who knows what you might end up walking into," Akeno smirked as she looked at her junior's reaction. Issei was twitching his left leg while his head was hanging back. A very faint "Eeeeee" could be heard from the boy's mouth.

"Akeno," Rias spoke suddenly, her red aura flaring.

Akeno, however, didn't seem to be phased by her master's demeanor. "Oh my, have I done something naughty?" She spoke innocently.

"Indeed. That was rather unfair of you," Rias approached her friend. Although her tone seemed to be threatening, her face was just as mischievous as Akeno's. All of a sudden, Rias turned Akeno around to make her face Issei, and then she ripped open Akeno's shirt to reveal a large pair of breasts barely held in by a purple bra.

"Ahhh!" Akeno shrieked as Rias suddenly groped her friend.

"I can't be the only one being displayed like this in front of our cute junior," Rias smirked victoriously.

Said junior had more blood gushing out of his nose as he witnesses this erotic scene. 'D-d-d-double! Two-hit combo!' Issei hit the ground hard as he fell over, causing him pain from his injuries that were largely ignored by the pervert at the moment.

"K-K-Kiba…...brother," Issei slowly reached out for Kiba's leg and grabbed it. Kiba himself sat there awkwardly with his eyes closed and sweat occasionally dripping down his head. "P-please….Please tell me, does this happen often?"

"...Occasionally."

Issei's eyes opened widely as he heard this. "FUCK YESSSSSSS!" He suddenly stood on his feet excitedly. "I'll do it! I'll join the club!"

"Ufufu. He seems to like this," Akeno said while looking at Rias, who went to grab her towel and wrap it around her again.

"Quite. He's honestly like an adorable younger brother." 'And this way, we can keep a better eye on him,' Rias thought as she looked at Issei.

"You're the worst," Koneko told Issei, who was still looking at the two beauties with glee.

"Very well, Issei. Then allow me to welcome you to the Occult Research Club," Rias said as she walked to her desk. About a few seconds later, she pulled out a small pile of papers and slammed them down. "But first, we're gonna need you to fill this out before you can officially be designated as a member."

Issei suddenly hung his arms and head low. "Paperwork…..yaaaaaay…." Issei muttered.

Issei walked over to her desk and started to fill out the paperwork. While he was working on that, Rias went to go get dressed. Akeno also left the room as she was buttoning up her shirt.

 **["So, you're not willing to be a servant, yet you're gonna join their club? This might give them an ample opportunity to push that offer."]**

'Probably. But this way, I can get them off of my back. If I didn't take them up on their offer, there's a chance that they would've been pushier.'

 **["Fair enough. So, are you going to align yourself with them?"]**

'Yeah, might as well. This way, I get to stay human and focus on my own goals while they have themselves a new member to be a part of their club. And besides, they did save me from-wait a minute...' Issei stopped writing as a thought occurred to him. 'These are all Devils….just like that snake thing,' Issei clenched his fist around the pen slightly.

Rias came back a few minutes later, fully clothed in her school uniform, and noticed Issei has stopped writing. "Is something wrong?"

However, before Issei could get a word out, Akeno came back with a serious expression on her face. "President, I just received a report from the Archduke."

"Another Stray Devil attack?" Rias looked back at Akeno with an equally serious look on her face. Akeno nodded and Rias looked at the other two members of her peerage. "Very well, then. Koneko, Akeno, we're going to find this monster and eradicate it!"

"Yes, President!" The two girls responded.

"Yuuto, I want you to escort Issei. Make sure that nothing happens to him," Rias ordered the blonde.

"Oh. Uh, yes ma'am!" Kiba responded, slightly surprised that he wasn't going with them.

"Oh whoa whoa whoa wait a minute!" Issei put his hands up. However, before he could get a word out, the girls teleported under a magic circle. "Wait! What the hell is going on!?"

Kiba suddenly grabbed Issei's arm, "I'll explain later. Let's get going," Kiba started to run out the door with the still dumbfounded Issei.

…

The girls of the Occult Research Club appeared in front of an abandoned warehouse. "Ok, what can you tell me about the Stray, Akeno?" Rias looked to her queen.

"According to the reports, Pantera has 23 victims under her belt. She uses poison to paralyze her targets before eating them," Akeno explained.

Rias grimaced at that. "Disgusting. Repulsive creatures such as this have no right to do as they please in my territory."

Koneko stopped in front of the warehouse and sniffed the air. "It's inside. Shall I open the door?"

"Yes. But please do be polite and knock first," Rias smirked at her servant, she'd be lying if she said that she didn't get some catharsis from doing this line of work.

"Kay," Koneko nodded and forcibly kicked the door open, "Knock knock."

The three girls walked inside and looked up at the ceiling when they heard a low grumbling. Their eyes bore witness to a topless woman with four transparent wings, four beady red eyes, long purple hair, skinny arms, and a huge stinger on the end of her black and yellow striped abdomen.

Rias glared at the monster intently, "Stray Devil Pantera, you dare rampage through my territory and do as you please? You crimes shall not go unpunished. In the name of the Duke Of Gremory, I shall strike you down!"

The Stray Devil looked down at the girls of the ORC. **"Kukukuku...Devils, huh? I've been waiting for a challenge!"** Pantera shouted with a wide smile as she swooped down at the girls.

…

"Stray Devil?" Issei asked as Kiba was escorting the brunette to his house.

"Yes," Kiba looked at Issei seriously. "They are Devils who left their masters for their own personal gain. However, this usually ends up with the Devil going on a rampage and causing destruction along its path. These things are monsters that will eat and kill to their heart's content, and we're ordered to eradicate them on the spot," Kiba explained.

Issei grit his teeth while he was being told this. 'So those things that I met earlier….were Stray Devils?' Issei thought.

"You saw them, right?" Kiba recalled back when Koneko observed Issei and Yuuma that their date was interrupted by a Stray Devil and that Issei recently encountered another Stray and presumably took him out.

"Yeah…" Issei's mind constantly flashed back to the girls dying before his eyes. His fists were clenched tightly. "They are monsters…And I'm gonna beat the hell out of all of them."

"Issei?"

"I've decided," Issei looked at Kiba with a burning passion behind those eyes, "I'm gonna get stronger and fight all these Stray Devils! That way, they don't take away any precious girl that goes to our school!"

Kiba's eyes widened at this sudden declaration. However, Issei wasn't done as he lifted his arm up and pointed his index finger in the air.

"In order to come out on top, a king needs to be strong, right?"

"Huh? Um...yeah." 'Where is he going with this?' Kiba internally questioned.

"Then a harem king is no exception!" Issei brought his arm down to point at himself with his thumb, "If I'm gonna have a harem, then I need to become strong enough that I can protect the girls from any of those monsters!"

Kiba was honestly stunned by everything the brunette just said. And then he did something that he himself thought that he would never do.

He laughed.

"Pfff haaa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

"Hey, what's so funny?" Issei had a tick mark on the top of his head as he glared at Kiba.

"Sorry. Sorry," Kiba held his hand up as he still let out a few chuckles. "You just surprised me, that's all."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I never thought that I'd see that kind of resolve from you. I mean, the reasoning is a little weird, but…"

'I feel like this is turning into a back-handed compliment.' Issei looked at Kiba with an annoyed expression on his face.

"I really think it's admirable in a way," Kiba smiled at Issei, "You're really an interesting guy...Issei Hyoudou."

Issei stepped back a little, "Ok, dude. You're making this a little weird."

"I am?" Kiba tilted his head. "How so?"

"You were looking at me kinda funny."

"Eh? But I was only trying to match the passion that you had with me."

"Ok, I'd rather you NOT word it like that, dude."

"I'm confused."

"Look, man, just sto-" As Issei was speaking, a giant scorpion tail suddenly swung up behind him from the right and snatched him, dragging Issei into the woods.

"Issei!" Kiba shouted as he immediately tried to go after the tail. Unfortunately, the blonde failed to notice the vine creeping up behind him. The vine wrapped around Kiba's ankle and it began to quickly drag him into the left side of the woods. "Gah!" Kiba shouted as he disappeared behind the trees.

 **End**


	9. Ch 9: Triple Threat

**Author's Note: So, not a lot happened in the last chapter. So to rectify that, how about I give you guys nothing but fighting? (Oh wait, that's a terrible idea, isn't it? XD)**

 **Anyways, I just thought that I'd let you know that one thing I wanna try to do in this story (or rather, what I've been trying to do) is to make Stray Devils more prominent at least in the early parts. (Translated: The "Monster of the Day" formula) Since in canon, they were just sorta...there. I mean, the only two that were mentioned were Vizor, who got bitch tossed, and Kuroka, and we all the know the deal with her (assuming you read the novel or watched the show). Every other one was merely mentioned in passing (in the novels, anyway).**

 **With that out of the way, let's get this shit started! Hope you enjoy ^_^**

...

 **Highschool DxD: Road of the Dragon King**

Ch. 9: Triple Threat

…

Kiba hit a tree as he was being dragged by a vine that had a pretty tight hold on his ankle. This process had been repeated thrice and by the third time, he had blood trickling down his head. Having enough, Kiba stretched his arm out as a magic circle appeared in front of his hand. Out came a sword handle from the circle which the Kuoh Prince quickly grabbed and pulled a sword out from the circle. Kiba quickly swung the silver blade down at the vine, severing it and freeing himself from its grasp.

Kiba quickly landed on his feet and slid across the ground by a few feet. He looked around the woods, surveying his surroundings. 'I thought that President and the others were dealing with the Stray Devil. Wait...could this be a diversion?'

Before Kiba could dwell on more possibilities, three more vines launched themselves at Kiba. However, this time Kiba was prepared for another attack as he quickly severed the first two vines and split the third in half.

Not allowing the blonde to rest, more vines came at him. "Tch." Kiba jumped up in the air to dodge the vines below him. He lands on a nearby branch only to quickly jump off the branch as the vines stretch and wrap around it. The blonde teen cut another vine as he was airborne. Kiba lands on the ground and dashes deeper into the forest, slicing up whatever vine gets in his way.

'Whatever is going on, I need to get rid of whoever's doing this and go help Issei,' Kiba thought as he kept running and occasionally slashing.

…

Issei slammed against the ground as he was helplessly dragged by the scorpion tail. The tail retracted, releasing Issei from its crushing grip as he tumbled along the dirt and grass. "Owww…" Issei groaned as he was in immense pain.

 **"Kii hii hii hii. My, aren't you cute?"** Something spoke to Issei.

Issei looked up to see a half-woman, half-scorpion creature with her chest bare. She had pink hair, four beady red eyes, and two giant pincers for hands. The tail hung over her head.

'Holy shit...those are nice tits,' Issei thought weakly.

 **["Really!?"]**

'Look, man. This is like, what, the third time that I'm knocking on death's door? I gotta think positively, man.'

Ddraig groaned at his host's stupidity. 'More importantly...this is another Stray Devil, right?'

 **["More than likely. But it's strange. I thought those other girls were going after the Stray Devil."]**

'Maybe this is a trap. Who knows? The point is, I gotta get the hell out of here….Now, if only I could move!' Issei tried to at least sit up, but he could only get his arms to move.

 **"Finished already? How disappointing,"** the Stray Devil spoke, **"I was hoping that I get to _play_ with you some more!"** She launched her tail at Issei at an alarming speed.

Issei immediately reacted by summoning the Boosted Gear and rolled to the right, barely dodging the tail that stabbed into the ground.

 **["BOOST!"]**

'Holy fuck, that was close!' Issei saw that the tail was merely a couple inches away from him. The Stray retracted her tail as she looked at the brunette with mild amusement.

 **"Oh? You're not done?"**

Issei chuckled as he managed to get on one knee. "Not even close, honey. I got a lot more stamina than you think."

 **"Kihihihi. Trust me, you're gonna need a lot more if you ever dream of handling me!"** The Stray launched her tail at Issei once more.

…

Pantera flew down at Koneko, aiming her stinger right at the loli. "Koneko, be mindful of Pantera's stinger," Rias warned.

"Mm," Koneko immediately understood the message as she clenched her fist, readying a counter attack. However, Pantera moved too fast for Koneko as she was forced to jump back as the stinger pierced the ground. "Tch."

Pantera flew back up in the air as she zipped around the building, **"Kukukuku. What's wrong? Can't keep up?"**

Akeno and Rias held out their hands as they prepared to fire projectile attacks. However…

"Rias, this thing is moving too fast," Akeno said as she tried to shoot an ice blast at Pantera. However, the Stray quickly dodged the attack.

Rias also attempted to shoot her down with the Power of Destruction. Much to the heiress's disappointment, however, the only thing that she managed to hit was a few crates and blast a hole in the ceiling. "Figures. It must've been a Knight piece back when she was a servant. Koneko, think you can slow down her movements?"

"Got it," Koneko stepped forward and cracked her knuckles as she got into a boxing stance.

 **"Oh? Does the midget wanna play?"** Pantera said before swooping down at Koneko once more.

Koneko prepared to strike Pantera down the moment she charged straight ahead. Unfortunately, Pantera vanished and reappeared right behind Koneko, forcing the petite girl to dodge the stinger by dashing to the right. However, Pantera quickly caught up to her and attempted to stab her yet again. Fortunately, Koneko was able to dodge each of the Stray Devil's attacks by continually running around the warehouse, albeit barely.

 **"Oh come on, little girl! Don't tell me that's the best you can do!"**

Koneko kept dodging the stinger successfully. Unfortunately, Pantera was moving too fast for the white-haired girl to prepare a counter attack. Koneko began to sweat as fatigue was slowly but surely catching up with her.

"Rias, what do we do? She can't keep this up forever," Akeno looked slightly concerned for her junior.

"Not to worry, we just need to have faith in Koneko for right now. I trust that she'll make the right move," Rias said, but she did have a trickle of sweat slide down her face. 'Or at the very least, I hope so.'

Koneko continuously dodged each repetitive attack from the Stray via dashing. Unfortunately, she was so preoccupied with getting away from the stinger that she wasn't entirely paying attention to her surroundings. This resulted in Koneko hitting her back against a set of crates as Pantera charged at her full speed ahead. **"Kukukuku KAAAKAKAKAKAKAKA!"** Pantera aimed her stinger right at Koneko's skull.

Rias and Akeno held their hands out once more to shoot Pantera, uncertain whether or not their projectiles would reach their target in time to save their friend.

Before the two could fire, however, Koneko reacted quickly by slamming her fist into the crate behind her and immediately moved out of the way. Pantera looked over in Koneko's direction, failing to notice the pile of crates collapsing on her. **"GAH!"** She let out a small shriek of pain as the boxes piled onto her.

A few seconds later, Pantera rose out of the rubble. **"You really think you can defeat me with such a childish trick!?"** She shouted angrily.

"No. That's what my fists are for," Koneko said as she jumped at Pantera and slammed her fist into the Stray's jaw, launching the creature right at Rias and Akeno.

The two beauties breathed out in relief as they see that Koneko is okay. "Oh my, she doesn't waste any time, does she?" Akeno smiled as she raised her hands up in the air. "Shall I?"

Rias sighed at her friend as she knew exactly where this was going, "Go ahead."

The instant Rias finished her sentence, Akeno's hands started to spark with electricity. "Ufufufu. Perfect."

Pantera managed to quickly compose herself as she aimed her stinger at Rias's Queen. Unfortunately for her, a bolt of lightning struck her before she could even approach Akeno. **"KAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"**

"Ufufufufu. Mmmm, you like that? I can give you so much more,~" Akeno had a blush on her face as she struck Pantera with another bolt of lightning.

Pantera let out another pained scream much to Akeno's delight. "Mmmmhmhmhm yes.~ Just like that. Scream for me some more,~" Akeno licked her fingers while striking Pantera with a third lightning bolt.

Pantera dropped to the ground after that attack, her body charred and her breathing heavy and weak. "Oh? Is that all you could take? Aww, I was hoping to play with you some more," Akeno looked at her prey while licking her lips.

Pantera's eyes widened as she realized how hopelessly outclassed she was. **'I can't...Where…...Where is it?'** Pantera frantically looked around until she saw a small bag that she hid in a corner in case of emergencies. **'There!'** Pantera thought happily as she tried to desperately crawl to that bag.

Unfortunately, Rias stood in front of her, blocking her path. The Gremory heiress held out her hand as a black ball of energy began to form. "Any last words, Pantera?"

Pantera looked up at the crimsonness helplessly before smiling weakly. **"Ku ku ku ku...Even as a Stray, the family overshadows who you are. Isn't that right...Gremory?"**

Rias looked down with a small hint of anger as her eyes turned red, almost as if that statement hit a little close to home. "If that's all you have to say, then this is…" Rias aimed the ball of destructive energy at Pantera, "Checkmate."

Rias obliterated the Stray Devil with the Power of Destruction, reducing Pantera to ash.

…

Kiba continued to run nonstop, cutting up whatever vine crossed his path that was trying to grab or whip him. The blonde teen kept dashing tree to tree while trying to find the source of the seemingly infinite vines.

'This is getting frustrating,' thought Kiba as he leaned up against a tree to catch his breath. 'I can't get anywhere with all these vines in the way. I need to find the source and fast. Otherwise…'

His thoughts were cut off by more vines launching at him. He ducked under quickly as the vines stabbed the tree behind him. Kiba immediately severed the vines and stood in the middle of the forest, looking around.

"Repeating the same tactic over and over won't work on me! Whatever amount of vines you send, I'll cut them all down!" Kiba called as he looked around. The response he received was yet another assault of vines. Feeling that this is taking too long, Kiba sheathed his sword into a magic circle only to pull the handle back and reveal a pale green curved blade. "Wind!" Kiba shouted as he swung his sword. A wave of razor wind launched from his blade and sliced the vines to shreds.

"Silly me, this is what I get for trusting a Stray to listen to reason," Kiba muttered before charging ahead. 'More importantly, you've given away the direction that you're located. Now the only uncertainty that remains is the distance.'

Kiba continued to slice up the vines with the wind sword as he continued forward. After a few more minutes of more running, Kiba skidded to a halt as he looked at the source of the vines attacking him.

Much like the other two Strays, the creature had four red beady eyes, it also had the upper body of a voluptuous woman with her chest covered by two leaves. She had short green hair and her body was inside what looked like a giant plant. Behind her was two large purple flowers with thorny stems and a multitude of vines that looked like they were regenerating.

Kiba looked at this creature in surprise for a minute before composing himself. "I see, so I take it that you're the one sending the vines after me?"

 **"Yes,"** the Stray Devil confessed, **"I thought that it would be enough to snatch my next meal, but I can see that you're not an ordinary man. Not only that, but you're a very handsome man as well,"** The Stray smirked at the swordsman.

Kiba smiled at the plant Devil, "The flattery is unnecessary, but appreciated. And since I came all this way mostly of my own volition, I suppose that I can give you the courtesy of knowing the name of your executioner."

Kiba held his sword in front of him while getting into a stance. "I am a Knight in service of the next head of the Gremory family. My name is Kiba Yuuto. And in the name of my Master, Rias Gremory, I shall cut you down for your sins!"

The Stray Devil laughed as Kiba made his declaration, **"Oooho ho ho ho ho! So, you're a Devil, huh? That explains how you managed to do so well against my vines. Very well, since you've been so generous to give your name, it's only polite that I do the same, right?"** The plant monster's aura flared as she grew a wide smile. **"Before I became a Stray, I was ranked as a Queen. My name is Shuka Pantera, it's a pleasure to have such a handsome Knight to be my opponent today. Though, it's a disappointment that you're clearly outmatched."**

Kiba smirked at Shuka, "Heh. I've defeated plenty of Queen Pieces that have gone astray." Though his words held confidence, Kiba had a drop of sweat sliding down his cheek. 'Although, I've never beaten them on my own. I always had the President or the other two girls by my side. Matter of fact…' Kiba's legs trembled slightly, '...this will be the first time that I've ever fought a Stray on my own.'

…

"Shit!" Issei tumbled to the left to clumsily dodge another strike from the scorpion woman's tail.

 **["BOOST!"]**

 **"Don't tell me that this is the best you can do. This is getting boring,"** the scorpion Stray sighed out.

"Well...maybe if you give a guy a fucking minute…" Issei muttered as another boost was announced. 'Ok. That's seven.'

 **"Come on, baby. What happened to all that nonexistent stamina?"** The scorpion Devil asked in a condescending tone before changing it to one of annoyance, **"Geez, I hate men who brag."** The Stray swung her tail sideways at Issei.

'Dammit! It's too low for me to go under! Can't really jump, either. So, my only option is...' Issei crossed his arms so that the gauntlet will take the brunt of the attack.

The tail slammed into Issei hard, launching him into a tree as his spine connects with the bark. "Guahhh!" Issei bounced off the tree as he was headed for the ground. Somehow, the brunette managed to land on his feet. Although, his body was trembling quite a bit. **["BOOST!"]**

 **"Oh? You're still standing after that?"** The Stray smirked at Issei as she found intrigue in the boy again. **"Kihi. Mind telling me your name? You might be one of the few victims that are actually worth remembering."**

"Tch. Really? I'm the victim. I think you got it the other way around, bitch," Issei chuckled despite the pain. "But since you wanna know so bad, you can just call me Issei."

 **"Issei, huh? Kihihihi! Interesting, very interesting. Then allow me to return the favor. After all, it would be rude for you to die without knowing who I am."** The Stray Devil retracted her tail while slamming her pincers together, the air around her became more menacing. **"Back in my peerage days, I was assigned the Rook Piece. My name is Kunama Pantera. Let's have some fun!"** Kunama smiled maliciously as her aura flared.

'Fan-fucking-tastic, I have no idea what the hell any of that means.' Issei got into a brawling stance as hears another **["BOOST!"]**

'That's nine.'

 **["Kid, I don't think adrenaline alone is gonna get us through this one. She seems stronger than the last Stray you fought."]**

Issei smiled bitterly as he stared down Kunama, '...Yeah…..'

Kunama sent her tail flying at Issei and it seemed to connect with him. Upon closer inspection, however, she saw that she only stabbed his jacket. Issei himself managed to quickly tear off his jacket and duck under the tail at the last second.

 **["BOOST!"]**

'Ten! That should be enough!' Issei dashed towards Kunama while gritting his teeth to try to ignore the pain and blood spurting from his legs. The brunette jumped up in the air and thrust the Boosted Gear at Kunama's chest. Unfortunately, the punch was blocked by her massive pincer.

 **"Feh. Weak!"** Kunama swung her right pincer down at Issei, slamming him into the ground. Issei lost his voice and could only cough out blood as he bounced from the impact.

Issei slid on the ground on his back. He rolled over on his stomach and stood up slowly while trembling. He looked up only to see Kunama's tail coming towards him once more. 'Shit!' Issei bent back to dodge the large stinger. The attack caught his shirt and ripped it open, revealing his bandaged and bloodied body. Issei staggered backward as he tried to recover from that attack. **["BOOST!"]**

 **"Kiiihihihihihihiiii! You really thought that you could take me on with wounds like that!? You must be dumber than I thought!"**

"Hey! You're the one who grabbed me!" Issei retorted while pointing an accusing finger at the Stray.

 **"Kiii hii hii hii. Fair enough, I'll give you that one. So, how about I take responsibility and finish you off now? After all…"** Kunama slammed her tail down on the ground on her right, **"I haven't had a decent meal in ages!"**

"Sorry...that's not gonna happen," Issei resumed his stance, although he was trembling quite a bit.

 **["Kid, this is bad."]**

'I know, but this bitch isn't giving me much of a choice. I have to fight.'

 **['That's not what I meant.']** Unfortunately, the brunette failed to notice the small nick on his chest made by the stinger.

…

"Hyah!" Kiba shouted as he launched another wind slash at the wave of vines coming at him. He jumped to the side as he saw another swing down. The vine missed and whipped the ground.

"Come on, Shuka! This can't be the best you can do!" Kiba launched another wave at Shuka, who blocked the attack with two massive leaves.

Shuka chuckled as her body was hidden behind the leaves, **"I suppose the same trick won't work anymore. Guess I'll have to switch it up,"** Shuka spoke while opening up the leaves to reveal her holding flower petals. She blew on the petals gently and they fluttered away.

However, the petals suddenly flew towards Kiba like bullets, making him react by jumping back. **"It's useless. Those petals will follow your trail. You won't be able to get away."**

"In that case…" Kiba swung his sword and wave of wind flew at the petals, blowing them away. Shuka smirked as the blonde Knight just realized a vine was approaching him from the left and he jumped away, barely dodging it. Kiba staggered slightly as he was caught off guard. Seeing this, Shuka sent more petals at Kiba. The Knight quickly retaliated with another wind slash.

Unfortunately, Kiba was distracted long enough for two vines to whip him hard in the side of his stomach and his right leg. Kiba shouted at the sudden pain and tried to cut them away. While successful, the blonde swordsman failed to see the petals that Shuka just sent flying at him and they connected with his body. Each petal cut him like a knife. The cuts themselves were small and insignificant on their own. However, the cuts kept on piling up as each petal flew past the teen.

"Uuuaah!" Kiba staggered as all the petals flew past him. His body had many small cuts all over. Kiba managed to recover by stabbing his sword into the ground.

 **"Ohhh ho ho ho ho! Is this truly the extent of your abilities, Knight?"**

"Not exactly," Kiba breathed out as he stood up as he got into his stance once more.

 **"Hmph! Quite an admirable warrior, but foolish. You don't even realize that you've walked into your own grave the moment you stepped before me."**

"Quite the assumption you're making there," Kiba smirked as he brought the sword down to his hip and behind his back, "but I'm not willing to give up just yet!" Kiba charged forward at Shuka, who retaliated by sending more vines and petals his way.

…

 **["BOOST!"]**

Issei hit the ground as he dodged Kunama's tail attack. He stood up and charged at the scorpion Devil.

'Come on, you bitch!' Issei threw another punch at Kunama, but she instantly grabbed the Boosted Gear wielder with her pincer. The grip she had on him tightened which crushed his ribs. "Ahh-AHHHHHH!" Issei let out a pained shout as the Stray crushed him.

 **"Pathetic…"** Kunama muttered before throwing Issei into the trees.

Issei hit a tree that was further back. The boy coughed up more blood as he hit the ground. He barely managed to get on his hands and knees as everything hurt. 'God...damn it….' Issei thought weakly while looking at the Stray's terrifying form from a distance.

'Come on, dammit. Think….she's a lot tougher than that snake. She also doesn't fuck around.' Issei sat his butt on the ground while leaning his back on a tree. 'Ok. Tail's bad, check. So, I gotta hit the bitch up close. Then we have the second reason why this is bullshit...those stupid pincers…' Issei's gaze hardened. 'If I can get past those, then I have a shot. But how do I-wait...shot...shot...That's it!'

 **"Come on out, boy! This is getting boring!"** Kunama shouted as she kept hitting her tail on the ground in irritation.

Issei was slowly standing up and limped toward Kunama's general direction. **["BOOST!"]** 'I only have one shot at this, I can't screw this up.'

Kunama smirked as she saw Issei come out. **"Nice to see you again. I was getting worried that my dinner was hiding from me."**

"What? A guy can't have a break?" Issei smirked back.

 **"Hmph. At least you can still run your mouth,"** Kunama said before swinging her tail at the brunette.

 **["EXPLOSION!"]**

Issei ducked under the tail as a red aura enveloped his body. He charged forward while holding out his gauntlet-clad hand. A small ball of red light manifested in front of his hand.

Issei reeled his fist back the moment Kunama retracted her tail. 'Now!'

Issei punched the red energy orb, the orb changing into a large blast of light, "Dragon Shot!"

Issei saw the blast hit Kunama directly, causing him to smirk as he fell on the ground. 'How do you like me now, bitch?'

As the smoke faded away, Issei's reaction turned to despair as he saw Kunama hiding behind her pincers that she brought up at the last minute.

"No….way…."

 **"Kihihihihihi. Not bad, boy. That last attack singed me a little. Too bad there wasn't enough power. Kihihihihi KAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!"**

Issei got on his knees as he was ready to go at her one more time, but his vision got hazy and he started coughing. He held his right hand over his mouth as he continued to cough out what he presumed to be blood. A minute later, he pulled his hand away and noticed that whatever he was coughing up was purple.

'What the hell?' Issei was confused at first until he thought back to when Kunama ripped his shirt open with her tail. That's when he realized that she probably nicked him. 'Shit…..'

Seeing the boy keel over and cough, Kunama smiled maliciously. **"It's over."**

…

Back with the ORC girls, Rias and Akeno were leaving the warehouse, but the two notice that Koneko was trailing behind slightly. "Koneko? Is something wrong?" Rias asked.

Koneko held up the bag that Pantera was trying to get to earlier. "I saw the Stray go after this before you killed her," Koneko quickly explained.

"What is it?" Akeno asked as Koneko looked into the contents of the bag. Koneko's eyes widened slightly as she saw what was inside. Seeing their junior's reaction, the two approached the girl to get a closer look.

Inside the bag was what appeared to be crystals. However, if you looked more closely, there's liquid inside the crystal-shaped objects.

"These are...Phoenix Tears," Rias said quietly.

"How did a Stray get their hands on this?" Akeno asked, just as surprised as the other girls.

"I don't know…" Rias asked before shaking her head to get her to focus on other priorities. "Anyways, let's check up on Kiba to see if he got Issei home successfully." Rias made a communication circle appear in front of her. "Kiba? How did it go?"

"President? Ghh!" The girls heard Kiba grunt on the other end.

Rias was shocked as she heard this, "Kiba, what's happening!?" The Gremory heiress panicked slightly. The other girls looked surprised.

With Kiba, he was currently slicing away at any vines or petals coming at him. Unfortunately, while he blew away one attack, the other would always get him. So, his body was covered in tiny cuts from the petals and lashes from the vines, his bleeding only getting worse. "Ah! I'm dealing with a Stray right now! She managed to grab me while my guard was down!" Kiba said while frantically trying to survive Shuka's attacks. Shuka herself has yet to get a single scratch on her since she would use the leaves as shields to block any oncoming wind slashes from Kiba.

"A Stray!?"

"Yes. Her name is Shuka Pantera."

"Pantera? But that's impossible. The Stray we were told to eradicate was named Pan-" Rias stopped herself as she recalled Pantera's last words.

 **" _Even as a Stray, the family overshadows who you are."_**

Rias grit her teeth in frustration, 'How did I not pick up on this sooner?' She internally berated herself.

"President?" Kiba spoke as he didn't hear anything on the other end.

"What about Issei? Did you get him home safely?" Rias tried to change the subject.

"..."

"Kiba!?"

"I think another Stray got him. All I saw was a scorpion tail wrap around him before he disappeared into the woods. I tried going after him, but I'm forced to deal with this one right now."

The girls grew silent as Kiba told them this.

After another period of silence, Kiba spoke up, "I'm sorry I screwed up President."

Rias composed herself before responding, her nerves steeled. "It's fine. Don't worry about it. Just try to hold her off for as long as you can until we get there. Don't die on me, and that's an order!"

"Yes, ma'am! But, what about Issei?"

"Worry about yourself for right now. We'll get Issei, too." Rias cut the line off, leaving Kiba to fend off the Stray for now. The crimsonness clenched her fists before looking at her other two servants. "Girls! Our boys are dealing with Strays who don't know their place! We're gonna rescue Issei and Kiba and destroy those monsters that dare to cause trouble in my territory! Let's go!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Koneko and Akeno shouted before the three girls teleported away.

 **End**

 **Author's Note: I know, kind of a dick move to end it here. But rest assured, I'll bring you the conclusion to this fight in the next chapter. Hope you guys enjoyed it. If you didn't, well then I'm sorry for the inconvenience.**


	10. Ch 10: In the End

**Author's note: Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you the conclusion to the fights from the last chapter. Hope you guys enjoy….or you might not, who knows? Anyway, have fun! :D**

 **Highschool DxD: Road of the Dragon King**

Ch 10: In the End...

…

Kiba hit the ground hard as he received multiple whippings from three vines. "Gahha!"

Shuka smirked as she saw the state Kiba was in. **"** **Hoh? I guess this is all that you're capable of. I would say that I'm disappointed, but my expectations were already low.**

Kiba stood up, albeit trembling as he does so. Shuka sends another assault of vines at him, forcing him to dodge. Unfortunately, Kiba's movements became much more sluggish than before. He took the full brunt of five vines whipping his chest, legs, and his kidneys. Shuka even wrapped one of her vines around his sword, shattering it to pieces. The Knight fell on the ground once more as he noticed that his vision was getting blurry. 'What the hell…? I could've sworn that I could dodge that. I guess I'm in worse shape than I thought….' Kiba looked up at the Stray and only now noticed that there was some strange powder coming from the flowers. His eyes widened as he realized what happened. 'Don't tell me…'

 **"Oooooho ho ho ho ho ho! So, you finally realized it? I told you that you walked into your own grave, didn't I?"**

"You….bitch," The swordsman spat out. Kiba managed to get on his knees as his breathing got heavier. "This whole time you were-"

 **"That's right! I've been filling this little area up with my poisonous pollen! It shouldn't be too long now before you die."**

Kiba punched the ground partly in frustration, but mostly to keep himself up. 'Dammit! I can't believe I was so careless,' Kiba chastised himself while glaring at Shuka. Though, his gaze felt weak since he was slowly fading into unconsciousness.

'I'm sorry, President...I did the best I could. Sorry that I couldn't save you, Issei.' Kiba could feel himself double over as he comes closer to death. 'Issei…'

" _They are monsters...And I'm gonna beat the hell out of all of them."_

"!"

" _I've decided….I'm gonna get stronger and fight all these Stray Devils! That way, they don't take any precious girl that goes to our school!"_

Kiba slammed his head on the ground before his body collapsed while gritting his teeth. Surprisingly, this haphazard method kept him awake 'I can't back down, now!' The swordsman managed to get on one foot, though he still had difficulty breathing due to the powder.

 **"Hm? You're still alive?"** Shuka asked in slight surprise.

Kiba tore off his jacket and wrapped it around his mouth to hopefully help him breathe better. The way he wrapped it around made the jacket appear to be some make-shift scarf. Shuka was shocked that Kiba was getting up despite not only the pollen getting into his system but the increasing wounds that he has on his body. However, the green-haired Devil managed to quickly compose herself.

 **"It's useless. You've already inhaled the pollen. It's only a matter of time before you die."**

"If that's the case…" Kiba held out his hand to grab a sword handle, "then I'll use that time to take you with me! Wind!" Kiba drew out the same pale green sword as before. 'Issei...you showed me your resolve, now allow me to show you mine. I'm gonna cut down all the Stray Devils in order to protect the people that I care about!'

 **"That wind sword again? Now, who's repeating tactics?"** Shuka mocked the Knight.

"And…" Kiba stretched his left hand out to grab another sword handle. He drew a sword out from the circle which was revealed to be a bright orange blade that had a few sparks emanating from it.

"Fire!"

 **"Tch. Another sword? All you're doing is delaying the inevitable! Nothing you do will amount to anything, just die!"** Shuka launched more vines and flower petals at the blonde teen.

"I'm afraid I can't do that!" Kiba retorted before blasting away the petals with the wind and turning the vines to ash with his burning blade. "Master's orders!" The swordsman charged at Shuka, grunting as he could still feel a great amount of pain.

 **"So, you've found a countermeasure? Not bad, but it's still pointless!"** Shuka shouted as she shot out a huge blast of pollen at Kiba, engulfing him.

However, the pollen was quickly blown away by what appears to be a flaming tornado. The tornado disintegrated to reveal Kiba spinning around with his two swords. "It's useless! I can blow away any technique you throw at me! You may be a Queen, but you overestimated your own power! You're no different than any Stray that I fought in the past!" Kiba clashed the two blades together before swinging them simultaneously to create a fire wave to launch at Shuka. Shuka naturally blocked the attack with her leaves. However, the fire managed to burn slowly burn the leaves away.

 **"What!?"**

As the leaves turned to ash, Shuka saw Kiba jumping at her with his arms crossed, ready to swing his blades to finish her off. However, that opportunity would never come as she whipped Kiba's wrist with her vines to force him to drop the wind sword and uses three more to impale his chest, forcing the boy to cough up blood.

" ***huff* *huff* It's done. *huff* *huff* You lost,"** Shuka sounded composed, but her heavy breathing indicated that she was more relieved than anything else.

She was so busy trying to calm herself down, she failed to notice that Kiba was still moving his left arm and he quickly swung down his sword at the vines, freeing himself.

 **"What!?"** Shuka's eyes widened at seeing Kiba still moving. **"** **How are you still alive!? You're nothing but low-class scum!"** She shouted with a mixture of fear and anger.

"The only scum here is you!" Kiba shouted as he started to draw another sword. "Ice!" Kiba pulled a translucent, light blue blade from the magic circle. Kiba coughed up more blood as he could feel his body hit his limits. 'Just one chance! I can't waste it!'

 **"Another one!? How many swords do you have!?"**

"Uryaaaah!" Kiba roared out as he thrust the ice blade forward right into Shuka's stomach, making the plant woman spurt blood from her mouth. She suddenly felt colder as she looked down, noticing that her body is slowly being encased in ice.

 **"N-no! This is impossible! You should be dead!"** Shuka's body continues to freeze over save for her head.

Kiba pulled the ice sword out of her stomach. "It's over!" Kiba discarded the freezing blade and gripped the fire sword with both of his hands while holding it up in the air. "You're finished! Or as my master would say..." Kiba swung his sword down with all his might, cutting Shuka in half.

"Checkmate!"

Kiba landed on the ground and turned his back on Flora, leaving the split corpse behind. The blonde Knight started to tremble all of a sudden as he began to lose his footing. 'Damn, I'm hitting my limit…..'

Kiba doubled over and collapsed on the ground. He started to close his eyes as he was quickly losing consciousness. 'I guess this is it for me….Sorry...President….'

…

Issei's body slammed into the dirt as he was knocked away once again by Kunama.

 **"It's useless. You've already lost. Just sit still and let the poison kill you."**

Issei's reply was to stand up, trembling heavily as his body was clearly past its limits. He limped towards Kunama and then was quickly swatted away by her pincer.

Issei's body flew up into the air before hitting the ground like a lifeless puppet. Kunama relaxed after seeing the brunette plop to the ground. However, she quickly tensed up as she saw Issei get up again.

 **'You have got to be kidding me! The poison alone should've done him in by now! How is he still getting up after that!?'** Kunama started to grind her teeth in frustration.

Issei continued forward as if he was a zombie. Kunama smacked him away with her massive claw once more, only this time she put a little more weight behind her attack.

 **'That should kill him.'** Kunama had a small smirk of satisfaction on her face after seeing Issei hit the ground for the third time at this point.

That smirk turned into a scowl as Issei slowly stood up as if his body was on autopilot.

'What….am I doing?' Issei asked himself as he kept moving forward. 'Why...do I….keep going? What's the point? I mean….' Issei took a downward strike from Kunama's pincer, forcing the brunette's body to bounce off the ground.

'I lost….right? So why…..?' Issei stood up much slower as he could barely move his limbs now.

 **"Why do you keep getting up!? What the hell is driving you!?"** Kunama snapped.

'Yeah...why do I keep getting up? What's the-'

" _Issei!"_ Yuuma suddenly appeared in his mind with a smile on her face.

Issei stopped moving as he thought back to Yuuma. That bright smile that she always wore around him, her adorable laugh, her violet eyes, her flowing raven hair, the way her cheeks flushed when she first asked him out, the way her face lit up when he got her that scrunchie, the warmth of her hand when he held it. Everything about her brought a smile to his face. His date with Yuuma was the happiest moment in his life.

And he would do anything to have that feeling again.

"Yuu…."

 **"Hm?"** Kunama looked at Issei as he started to speak.

"...ma…..Yuu….ma…."

 **"Yuuma?"** Kunama asked in confusion. **"** **What does a woman have to do-"** Kunama suddenly grit her teeth in anger as she came to a realization. **"** **A woman? A woman!? That's what's keeping you alive!? Don't fuck with me! Just hurry up and die!"** Kunama launched her tail at Issei, who still wasn't moving.

Issei looked up to see the tail flying at him. 'I….'

In a split second, Kunama suddenly widened her eyes as her tail was suddenly smacked away. **'** **Wha-what on earth happened? How did-'** she looked away from her tail to see Issei standing there with his arm stretched upward. However, what was even more shocking was the look in his eyes.

Kunama no longer saw the lifeless orbs that the brunette carried a minute ago. What she saw was a burning intensity held in his gaze, a new life shining in his eyes.

'That's right….' The gem on the Boosted Gear started to shine brightly.

'I want to see Yuuma again. I want to tell her how I feel. I can't die before seeing her again! I refuse to die!'

In the next instant, a red aura started to glow around the draconic gauntlet. The Boosted Gear grew a second green jewel on the forearm and ten golden spikes began to protrude from the gauntlet. 'Wait. What the hell?'

 **["Dragon Booster! Second Liberation!"]**

 **"What the hell is this? What's going on!?"** Kunama started to panic.

'I don't know what's happening, but let's roll with it!' Issei thought excitedly as he tried to move with a feeling of power surging through him. However…

'Oh goddammit! You gotta be kidding me!' Issei looked down and noticed that his legs were trembling.

 **"Tch. Getting me worked up over nothing. Just die already!"** Kunama shouted as she charged at Issei. She lifted her pincers up in the air as she prepared to smash Issei, who was still trembling.

'Come on, you stupid legs. Move!' Issei looked up to see the pincers come flying down at alarming speeds. 'Come on come on come on!'

Blood started to spurt from his legs and the sounds of bones cracking could be heard as Issei suddenly charged past the pincers, narrowly dodging the attack as the pincers came crashing down. 'MOVE GODDAMMIT!'

"HAAAAAAHHHH!" Issei swung his fist right into Kunama's stomach. The Stray puked blood as the brunette kept driving the red gauntlet further into her gut.

This left Kunama stunned briefly before she grit her teeth and slammed her pincer down on Issei.

Issei took the full impact of the strike. His body digs into the ground, forming a small crater. The boy coughs up blood as he helplessly lays on the ground. 'Shit….I guess this is the best I can do…..dammit….I'm so pathetic….'

Kunama rapidly punched the ground to make absolutely sure that Issei was dead. **"** **Die die die die die die die DIE!"** She shouted frantically as she continued punching. Soon, she stopped and looked down to admire her handiwork. However, as the dust faded away, she noticed that Issei was gone. **"** **What!?"**

She looked around in confusion until she saw Koneko suddenly appear while carrying Issei. Before she could even question the little girl, Kunama heard another voice.

"Oh my, I see you've been bullying my cute junior."

Kunama tried to locate the source of the voice until she saw Akeno standing on top of a tree. **"** **And who the** _ **fuck**_ **are you!?"** Kunama spat out.

Koneko was the one to respond to that question. "Servants of Rias Gremory."

 **"** **Servants? Oh, so you're Devils?"** Kunama looked at the two girls with intrigue.

"Correct." Akeno flew down from the tree and landed next to Koneko. "And it's our job to get rid of monsters like you." Akeno said with a cheerful smile. She then licks her lips. "Ufufu~ I feel so lucky tonight. You're my second toy that I get to play with.~ I just hope you don't break as quickly as the last one.~" The Queen's hands began to spark with electricity.

Koneko steps in front of Akeno, surprising the senior slightly. "Oh? You wanna play with her, too? This is a surprise coming from you, Koneko.~"

"It wouldn't be fair for you to hog everything for yourself." The Rook retorted.

"Ufufu. Fair enough, I'll let you play. Just don't get too rough, don't want the poor thing to break.~" Akeno licked her lips as her S-side was kicking in again.

"Got it." Koneko ran towards Kunama while the scorpion swung her tail down. Koneko quickly dodged by dashing to the right.

 **"Oh? You're fast."** Kunama smirked in amusement. **"** **But…"** The Stray swung her tail to the right in an attempt to hit Koneko.

Koneko, however, jumped up in the air to avoid the strike. Koneko then slammed her fist down on the tail, crushing the stinger.

 **"AHH! You...little….bitch!"** Kunama shouted before retracting her tail. **'** **What the hell was up with that power? I thought she was a Knight judging by her speed, but her abilities are more in line with a Rook.'**

Koneko continued to charge straight ahead at Kunama, who put up her pincers as a means of defense. Kunama managed to block the petite's powerful punches, although she was being pushed back slightly. Soon, Kunama pulled her left pincer back before launching it at Koneko, who countered with a powerful left of her own. The fist collided with the claw, but Koneko was the one being pushed back. However, she still tried to pushed forward with succession and it appeared to be a stalemate.

'We're evenly matched. How annoying.' Koneko thought.

Meanwhile with Akeno, she was currently setting Issei's head in her lap while looking at his body. The sadistic Queen looked at Issei with surprise in her eyes. 'He….shouldn't even be alive….' Akeno thought. The boy had wounds from top to bottom not only from the fight with Kunama, but also the other Stray that wasn't completely healed. To top it off, Issei had been struck by the poisonous stinger. Akeno frantically looked around in her pockets before pulling out a Phoenix Tear. She held it over Issei's mouth and tilted the vial. She watched the liquid go down Issei's mouth.

She watched Issei's wounds gradually disappear within a few minutes. She relaxed as she saw Issei breathe normally. 'Thank goodness. It'd be a waste if we lost such an interesting guy.' Akeno thought in amusement.

The Queen saw her junior jump back to avoid a crushing attack. "So is the pervert fixed up?"

Akeno nodded, "Yes. Though, I'm not too sure whether or not the poison left his system. But at the very least, he's not dying anytime soon."

"That's good….I guess."

"More importantly, is our little Stray giving you a hard time?" Akeno took notice of Koneko sweating and breathing a little heavily.

"She's tough," Koneko said in her usual emotionless tone.

Kunama gave a light chuckle as Koneko backed away. **"** **What's wrong, shorty? Is that the best you can do?"**

"Oh my, she can still talk big despite those bruises you gave her?" Akeno asked the little Rook.

"Apparently."

 **"Hey! Don't talk like I'm not here!"** Kunama shouted, annoyed at the two.

Akeno stepped forward, "Ufufu. I'm sorry, honey.~ I'll be sure to give you my _full_ attention starting now.~" Akeno smirked sadistically as her fingers crackled with electricity.

 **"Tch. Then what are you waiting for, bitch? Come on!"**

"Ufufufu.~ You're certainly needy.~" All of a sudden, lightning crashed down on Kunama, who let out a pained shriek.

"Mmmm.~ Yes. That's the way Mama likes it.~" Akeno licked her lips before striking Kunama with another bolt.

 **"KAAAHHHHH!"**

Akeno let out a shaky breath before noticing that Kunama is charging forward. "Oh? You're more resilient than I thought. I think I like that.~"

 **"Shut it, you psychotic cunt!"** Kunama raised her pincer up in the air, ready to crush Akeno.

"Well, now. Aren't you vulgar?" Akeno still held a smile on her face despite Kunama's insult and just continued to zap the Stray.

Four thunderbolts later, Kunama crashed down on the ground. Kunama gasped for air as smoke emanates from her body.

"Is that all?~ That's disappointing," Akeno looked down at Kunama. "I guess I'll have to finish this." The Queen held her right arm up in the air.

"Wait….."

Akeno stops as she heard a different voice. She looked back to see that Issei was awake and laying on his stomach.

"Issei?" Akeno asked, surprised that he was conscious.

"This is...my fight, dammit," the brunette got up on his knees, his eyes felt heavy as he was struggling to stay awake.

"Don't move. You lost a lot of blood," Koneko told him.

"Look…*huff* *huff*...I don't *huff* give two shits….about my blood. I can't have you two jump in the middle of my fight. Ok?" Issei glared at the two girls.

Koneko glared back, "Your fight's over. You lost."

"Bullshit," Issei covered his mouth as he started coughing.

"Well, now we know the answer to whether or not the poison's gone." Akeno kneeled in front of Issei. She smiled gently at him while putting a hand on his shoulder. "Look Issei, I really admire your tenacity, but you gotta know when to call it quits. The Phoenix Tear that we gave you may have healed all your wounds, but it didn't replenish the blood loss or make the poison go away. You need to rest while we finish this up. Ok?"

However, Issei didn't back down, "No. I refuse…." Issei got on one foot, "I refuse to give up. I'm not…" Issei suddenly dropped to the ground again.

"Put away your macho crap and face the facts. You can't fight," Koneko said bluntly.

While the girls were distracted, Kunama smiled as she had a Phoenix Tear hidden in her mouth. She bit down on the vial, crushing the glass and drank its contents. **"** **Kiii hii hii hii hii."**

Akeno, Koneko, and Issei turned to look at Kunama. Akeno and Koneko widened their eyes as they noticed that Kunama was healing.

 **"Now now, don't be so hard on the boy. After all,"** Kunama stood up and smiled psychotically, **"** **he provided a nice little distraction!"**

"Tch. Phoenix Tears?" Koneko asked the Stray in irritation.

 **"KIIIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIIIIIIII! Yes! Me and my sisters snagged a ton of them from our stupid Master! Of course that was after we killed him! Kiihihihihihi! Oh man, just thinking about splattering his brains sends shivers down my spine!~"**

Akeno glared at Kunama, "Why do it? Why kill your Master?"

 **"Hah! What kind of stupid question is that!? Isn't it obvious? Me and my sisters wanted freedom! The freedom to feast on whatever guy we want!"** Kunama licked her lips. **"** **Our Master always held us back, insisting that we get along with the humans. Ha! How stupid! Humans are nothing more than food for us Devils! Kiii hii hii hiii KAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!"**

"Disgusting." Koneko took a step forward while cracking her knuckles.

 **"Oh? You ready for round 2, shorty?"** Kunama smiled excitedly before slamming her pincers together, **"** **Come on!"**

Before Koneko could take another step, she was suddenly held back. She looked behind her to see Issei grabbing her ankle with his left hand. "I said...wait, dammit."

"Don't touch me." Before Koneko had the chance to yank her foot away, Ddraig's voice suddenly spoke from the Boosted Gear.

 **["Transfer!"]**

Koneko let out a small moan as energy started flowing into her. Koneko's face flushed as she dropped to her knees in shock. 'Wh-Wha….'

"Koneko?" Akeno looked over to the Rook with slight concern. Issei looked surprised at this as well. He tried to stand up to help, but he quickly fell unconscious as fatigue completely overtook him.

Seeing a chance, Kunama swung her tail down at the two girls. " **Die!"**

Akeno was briefly caught off guard so she didn't immediately notice the tail. However, she managed to put a barrier at the last second. The Queen winced slightly as she barely managed to hold the tail back. "Koneko!"

"G-got it." Koneko managed to compose herself and charge past Akeno at alarming speeds.

 **"Wait, what!?"** Kunama was surprised as Koneko was suddenly in front of her. This sudden gust of speed even surprised Koneko herself. She tried to prepare a punch, but found herself unable to stop. So, she decided to settle with just simply charging at the Stray and ram her.

Kunama put her guard to block the shoulder ram. Despite the successful blocking, however, Kunama was still pushed back by Koneko. The petite girl continued to ram Kunama as they started approaching the trees.

After crashing through several trees, Kunama jumped back and Koneko stopped herself as the two are now in a standoff. **"** **Keh. You should've told me you were holding back before, you little shit."** Kunama actually smiled despite the surprise attack. **"** **Now, let's have some** _ **real**_ **fun!"**

'But I wasn't holding back earlier,' Koneko looked down at her fist in slight confusion. Before she could dwell on it further, Kunama swung her giant pincer down at Koneko. The loli quickly blocked the attack with a punch of her own. Unexpectedly, Koneko actually crushed the claw with her punch.

 **"What!?"**

'What?' Even Koneko was surprised at this newfound strength.

 **"You little shit!"** Kunama swung her other pincer straight down, but Koneko knocked it away with an uppercut. This attack also broke Kunama's remaining pincer. The Stray Devil could only leave her mouth gaping open in shock.

'...Roll with it.' Koneko, disregarding any question as to how she did that, charged forward and slammed her fist into Kunama's gut. However, the punch was so strong that she actually impaled the scorpion woman.

 **"Guhaaa!"** Kunama coughed up blood as she looked down at Koneko in anger. She bent her head down in an attempt to bite off the white-haired loli's head. However, Koneko quickly retracted her fist from Kunama's stomach and jumped back to avoid the haphazard attack.

Koneko jumped up in the air shortly afterward and swung her right leg straight up, kicking Kunama in the jaw. The attack sent the Stray flying up in the air.

As Koneko landed on the ground, Akeno appeared behind her and chuckled. "Oh my, You got a little greedy there."

Koneko turned around to see her upperclassman holding an unconscious Issei in her arms. "Sorry," Koneko apologized, though her tone was as apathetic as usual.

Akeno held her right arm up in the air and shot a thunderbolt at the pink-haired Devil.

 **"CUUUUUUUUUNT!"** Kunama shouted as she was zapped in midair.

Koneko ran towards the nearest tree and then proceeded to run up said tree. She hopped off the bark as she approached the airborne Stray. Kunama, in an act of desperation, swung her tail at Koneko. The Rook knocked away the tail with a spin-kick. Koneko then reeled her fist back as Kunama could only look in shock and fear.

 **'This is bullshit! There's no way I could lose!'** Kunama thought as the gloved fist inched closer to her face.

"You lost," Koneko stated outright before her fist implanted itself right into the Stray Devil's skull.

"Checkmate.~" Akeno smiled happily as Koneko's punch went through Kunama's head, smashing her brain.

Koneko started to descend. As she did so, she grabbed the nearest branch and then immediately let go to land on her feet.

"Aw, how could you steal my thunder like that?" Akeno pouted in mock-hurt as Koneko rolled her eyes at the pun her senior made.

"Let's get out of here. We need to find the President," Koneko said as she started walking out of the woods.

"Good idea. I'll go ahead and notify her of the situation." Akeno started to follow behind her junior. While the two continued walking, Koneko occasionally took glances at Issei, or more specifically, his left arm.

…

Kiba slowly opened his eyes while letting out a faint groan. Once his vision cleared, he saw Rias with a relieved smile on her face. "President?" The blonde swordsman asked as he sat up, and the moment he did, Rias pulled him in a gentle embrace.

"Thank goodness," Rias said quietly, "I was so scared that you weren't gonna wake up."

Kiba was stunned as he didn't really know how to react. So, he just simply returned the embrace to his Master. "Sorry that I worried you, President."

Rias spoke gently, "There is no need for you to apologize. I'm just glad that you're ok."

"So...what happened?" Kiba asked, "How am I still alive?"

Rias answered his question by pulling out the empty vial that held the Phoenix Tear. "I used one of these."

"Ah...that explains it," Kiba said before coughing suddenly. Seeing this, Rias suddenly grabbed his shoulders.

"Are you ok!?"

"Yeah….*cough* *cough*...The Stray managed to poison me. But I still won in the end." Kiba smiled at his Master while pointing to the split corpse behind him.

The heiress widened her eyes in shock. 'Kiba beat a Stray Devil by himself?' Before she could question her Knight any further, a magic circle appeared in front of her. Akeno's voice could be heard from the circle.

"Rias, we found Issei," The Queen informed her friend.

"How is he?" Rias asked while Kiba sat next to her, listening in.

"We used the Phoenix Tear on him. But….he was poisoned by the Stray and now he's unconscious from the amount of blood that he lost."

Kiba frowned as his eyes moved to the ground. 'Dammit. If only I could've made it.'

Rias, however, kept herself composed. "And what of the Stray? I take it that you've disposed of it?"

"Yes. However, we need to get an antidote as soon as we can. When we found Issei….well, let's just say that it's a miracle that he's even alive still."

"...I see. And I couldn't agree with you more. Yuuto's also been poisoned."

"Oh my, our boys are becoming little troublemakers, aren't they?" Akeno tried to keep a light-hearted tone, but it was obvious that she was concerned for the two.

Rias, however, gave a small smile, "Indeed." Her gaze then turned serious, "Akeno, we're gonna transport back to the clubroom to work on an antidote. We might have enough medicine and potions to make this work. I'll be bringing Kiba along. Koneko?"

"Mm." Koneko's voice could also be heard from the circle.

"I want you to carry Issei with you. Try to make it as quickly as possible."

"Kay."

"Ok. I'll see you two later." And with that, the communication circle disappeared.

Rias then turned to Kiba. "Kiba, when we return, I want you to rest up as much as possible. Ok?"

"Yes ma'am!" Kiba quickly said before frowning. "Uh. Umm…."

"Hm? What is it?"

Kiba then bowed his head while closing his eyes, "I'm sorry. Because I was careless, Issei nearly died on my watch. I'll take whatever punishment you give to me for my failure."

Giving a sigh and then a gentle smile, Rias lifted the blonde's head up while caressing his cheek. "I already said that there is no need for an apology. As long as the people that are dear to me are alright in the end, then there's no need to worry. You won't be punished for something that was beyond your control."

Kiba smiled back at his Master, as if he felt a burden lift off from his shoulders. That burden was replaced with a shiver down his spine as Rias's smile strained. "The secretary of the archduke on the other hand…." Rias muttered.

"President?"

"It's nothing." Rias's smile returned to normal as she held Kiba's hand. "Now, let's get going." A magic circle appeared under the two of them.

"Yes ma'am." The two teleported away to the clubroom.

…

After the conversation with Rias ended, Akeno handed Issei to Koneko and then teleported away. The Rook kept walking out of the woods to head back to the old school building.

Koneko felt Issei squirm slightly as he was beginning to wake up again. The brunette opened his brown eyes only to see a yellow pair stare back at him.

"Hey," Koneko said to him.

"...Hey," Issei said tiredly. He then looked around and noticed that he was being carried in her arms. The idea of a girl much shorter than him bothered Issei for some reason, but he kept that to himself. "Wha…."

Seeing the boy's confusion, Koneko started to speak again. "Crash course: You were beaten by a Stray, the Vice President and I came to save you, we defeated the Stray, and then I'm taking you back while the President and Vice President work on an antidote for you."

Issei could only leave his mouth hanging open for a minute before closing it. However, what Koneko said next confused him.

"Also, thanks."

'What is she thanking me for? What did I even do? I don't understand. I mean…..'

Koneko looked down at Issei as he started muttering. Due to her enhanced hearing, she could pick up on what he was saying. What Issei said, however, bothered her for some reason.

"In the end….I couldn't even protect myself this time."

 **End.**


	11. Notice

**Hey, everybody!**

 **You're probably wondering where the actual fuck the next chapter of this kinda below-average story is at. Just kidding, none of you are wondering that. But I'mma tell you, anyways.**

 **And let's just say that writer's block is kind of a twisted bitch. XD**

 **I've been kinda stuck for awhile, now. And it's not like I don't know what to do. I have a few ideas.** ** _Getting_** **there is the problem. At least, not without pulling shit out of my ass. (And I believe I've done enough of that already. XD)**

 **And it doesn't help that I've been emotionally drained for some time. I've just been too stressed to even think about writing. (Ironic, considering stress is the reason why I** ** _started_** **writing. Outside of sheer boredom, anyway.)**

 **This is basically a long-winded apology and a half-assed explanation of what's been going on with this story. Will I ever update this story? It's uncertain, but if I do, it won't be for awhile. And if you guys decide to drop the story, I don't blame you (not like it was really good in the first place. :))**

 **And for those of you that enjoyed the story, I'm sorry. But, I** ** _am_** **glad that someone got** ** _some_** **form of entertainment out of this.**

 **That's all for now. Laters.**


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